University of Louisville ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
12-2004
Some social considerations in the female portraits of Palma Vecchio.
Sarah Elizabeth Fruehling 1977- University of Louisville
Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.library.louisville.edu/etd
Recommended Citation Fruehling, Sarah Elizabeth 1977-, "Some social considerations in the female portraits of Palma Vecchio." (2004). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 466. https://doi.org/10.18297/etd/466
This Master's Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository. This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has retained all other copyrights. For more information, please contact [email protected]. SOME SOCIAL CONSIDERATIONS IN "THE FEMALE PORTRA][TS OF PALMA VECCHIO
Bv.'
Sarah Elizabeth Fruehling B.A., Mount Vernon Nazarene College, 2000
A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of LouisvlHe in partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the De!:,:rree of
Master of Arts
Department of Art History University of Louisville Loui :sville, Kentucky
December 2004 SOME SOCIAL CONSIDERATIONS IN THE FEMALE PORTRAITS OF PALMA VECCHIO
By
Sarah Elizabeth Fruehling B.A., Mount Vernon Nazarene College, 2000
A Thesis Approved on
December 3,2004
by the following Thesis Committee:
Thesis Director
11 DEDICATION
This thesis is dedicated to my parents
Rev. and Mrs. Robert & Paula Fruehling.
With your enduring love and support I have accomplished many things. Without it I
\vould have never endeavored to take this journey.
1II ACKNOWLEDGiv1ENTS
I would like to thank my professor, advisor, and thesis director Dr. Christopher Fulton,
who has seen me through this journey to its fruition. Thank you for your patienoe and
guidance, Dr. Fulton. To my famiIy and friends lowe many thanks for the support and love given through the tough times and the long nights. Thank you to the members of my filmily and friends in Ohio and California: Mom and Dad, Brother Andy, Grandma Riley,
Uncle Byron and Aunt Laura, Uncle Doug., Tirn and Karen Jensen and Trisha Grose. To
my wonderful friends who reside in Louisville, Kentucky: Tom and Wendy Doyon,
Jennifer Gruber, Dayne Gardner, Flint Collins, Blair Arsenaux, and Donna Moros. r
would also like to thank my wondl;:rful1y caring and colorful neighbors, Dawn Muncie,
Steve Burton, and Bridget Dattilo, and to Samuel J. Kat who is my constant companion
and friend.
IV ABSTRACT
SOME SOCIAL CONSIDERATIONS IN THE FEMALE PORTRAITS OF PALMA VECCHIO
Sarah E F ruehling
December 3, 2004
This thesis is an investigation into the world of sixteenth-century Venice, encompassing a group ofti;!male p0l1raits by artist Palma Vecchio. 1 utilized many primary and secondary sources concerning Renaissance society, including several which discussed the roles of women during the Renaissance.
This thesis is divided into four chapters that discuss the purpose and evolution of the female portrait, ideal poetic beauty, and the authority the courtesan carried in both the poetry and the painting in Venice.
Chapter one covers a short history of the portrait as well as an investigation of how the female portrait evolved from the profile image to the frontal three-quarter image.
It also discusses hO\v Palma Vecchio would have adhered to the early concepts of the portrait, yet came to depict women in a idealized fashion that came to be the Renaissance
Venetian artist's specialty. Chapter two explores the issue of poetic beauty upon the paintings of Palma Vecchio and its birth from the Humanist movement, as started by the fourteenth-century poet Petrarch, Chapter three discusses the role of the courtesan predominately in Venice. An educated and sophisticated woman who sold sexual favors, performed a considerable role in the world or the female portrait in Venice, particularly the images by Palma Vecchio. Chapter four, the conclusion, concretizes the issues of
v ideai poetic feminine beauty, the courtesan in female portraiture, and how these two factors carried an enonllOUS role not only in the female portraits of Palma Vecchio, but in the social fabric of Venice.
VI TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOW1,EDGtv1ENTS ...... iv
ABST~J\CT...... v
TABLE OF CONTENTS ...... vli
LIST Of FIGURES ...... vm n,JTRODU(~TION ...... , .. _.. 1
Cl IAPTER I...... ," ...... 4
Cf1APTER 11...... 20
C·!-1.A.PTER Hr...... 34
CHAPTER IV...... lrvi"A.. GES ...... ,...... ,...... 58
REFERENCES ...... 84
CURRICULUM VIiAE ...... 90
" VII LIST OF fIGURES
FIGURES PAGE
1. Palma Vecchio. Portrait ofa Woman Called 'La Bella', 1518-20. Oil on Canvas, 90x80 cm Lugano-Castagnola Collection, Thyssen Bomenisza ..... 54
2. Palma Vecchio. Portrait (?la Woman in Prrdlle, c. 1520-25. Oil on Canvas, 49x42.4 cm. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna...... 55
3. Domenico Ghirlandaio Portrait (?lGiovanna degli Alhi;;:;i Tornaouoni, c. 1488-90. Tempera on panel, 77 x 49 em. Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid...... 56
4. Leonardo da Vinei. Fortrait (~lGinevra de Hellei, 1474-78. Oil on panel, 38.1 x 37 em. National Gallery of Art, Washington, nc...... 57
5. Leonardo da Vinci. Portrait ofCecilia Gallerani (Lady Yl'ith f:rminej, l489-90. Oil on panel. Krakow, Princes Czartoryski Foundation ...... 58
6. Titian, Portrait ({a Woman Called J~a Bella, 1536. Oil on canvas. Galleria Plttt, Florence...... 59
7. Palma Vecchio. Portrait ola 1-Yaman Called j'flOlante, 1516-18. Oil on canvas, 64.S x SO.8 cm. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna...... 60
8. Palma Vecchio. Portrait oia Wuman in Blue, 1512-14. Oil on canvas, 63.S x 51 ern. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna ...... 61
9. Tullio Lombardo. Portrait Bw.t ola Woman, 1520. Marble. Private Collection ...... 62
10. Bronzino. Porfrait ojLauTa Baffijerri, 1558. Oil on panel, 83 x 60 cm. Palazzo Vecchio, Fiorence ...... 63
11. Raphael. Detail from C;aia/ea, c. 1518. Fres.co~ Villa Farnesina~ Ronle ...... 64
Vlll 12 Palma Vecchio Portrait (~fa Woman Called Flora, 1522-24. Oil on panel, 77 x 64 cm. National Gallery, London ...... ".65
13. Titian. Portrmt ola Woman Called Flora. c. ] 516-18. Oil on canvas. Gallerie degli Uffizi, Florence ...... " .. " ...... 66
14. Paris Bordon. Portrait of a Woman Called Flora, 16th century. Oil on canvas, 103 x 85 cm. Musee du Louvre, Paris ...... 67
15. Veronese. Leda and the S\van, 16th century. Oil on canvas ...... 68
16. Marcantonio Raimondi. !.eda and the Swun. 1520. Engraving, ...... 69
17. Titian. Danae and the Golden Shower, c. 1545. Oil on canvas, Prado Museum, Madrid ...... 70
18. Giulio di Antonio Bonasone. Danue, 1545. Engraving ...... 71
19. Giorgione. Sleepmg Venus (Dresden Venus). 1510. Oil on panel, Staatliche GemaJdegalerie, Dresden...... 72
20. Titian. Venus (~f(Jrbino. 1538. Oil on panel, Gallery degJi Uffizi, Florence ...... 73
21. Bernardino Licinio. Reclming Venus, 16th century, Temporarily at the Palazzo Vecchio, Florence...... 74
22. Tintoretto. Portrait of Veronica Franco, c. J 575. Oil on canvas, Worcester Art Museum, Worcester" Massachusetts ...... 75
23. Palma Vecchio. Portrait ofa vVoman I1l ith a Bared Breast. 1524-26. Oil on panel, 79.1 x 62.2 cm. Gemaldegalerie, Berlin (Dahlem} ...... 76
24. Raphael. La Fomarina, c. i 515. Oil on canvas, 34" x 25.5". Palazzo Barbarini, Rome ...... 77
25. Palma Vecchio(Titian). Portrail (~ta Woman in Black, 1510. Oil on panel, 59.5 x 44.5 cm. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. . ... 78
26. Palma Vecchio. Portrait (1a Woman Called 'La Cortigiana', 1524-26. Oil on canvas, 87.4 x 73.5 cm. Museo Poldi-Pezzoli, Madrid ...... 79 T~li'lj p-rR~y-.,.,. . UlJU TC'l.,.....T~" . l1\j\'4 f
The female ponrait in the italian Renaissance in the sixteenth century journeyed to a realm that dramatically changed the art of fen1ale portraiture. Palma Vecchio, an artist who lived in Venice rnost of his life, adhered to the Venetian school of painting. He helonged to the artistic circle of the legendary pamter Titian .. as well as other great painters such as Paris Bordone and Sebastiano del Piombo. Within Palma' s oeuvre are a group of approximately twenty surviving paintings vvlllch depict unnamed female beauties. Quickly deemed as portraits of courtesans by many art historians, I believe these paintings reveal the story of a culture in Venice which revolved around the ~)()etry. the female portraIt and the beamiful woman.
In this paper I win address a number of issues concerning not just the Jemale portraits of Palma Vecchio, but the underlying motives behind the brush work. Why were women depicted in such a fashion, that they appeared in either the state of utmost virtue, or was scantily clad, a1Jmving herself to be ogled by a male audience? The ans\vers to this question involves poetry of the sixteenth century, which brought the ideals of feminine beauty into light, \vhieh was then illustrated in paint. The courtesan, the living, breathing personification of such ideals, could he considered muse of the painting and poetry. This then developed into a portraIt prototype commonly seen in the Venetian school of painting.
The portrait in the beginning of the Renaissance \vas for posthumous
J commemoration, and usually served to immortalize men in bronze or marhle. The female profile portrait served a similar purpose, but was a tooi used by nobile families wishing to marry their daughters, while e:xtending their familial lineage and power through the Italian countryside. Credit for the evolution of the female profile portrait into a frontal image is give:n to Leonardo da Vinci, \)Ilho in his Portrait ({Ginevra de Renci, presented a frontal image of a woman who interacts with the viewer, beckoning a conversation. With this cornposition, the ground work f()r any future female portrait was iaid, opening an enormDus dOlor tD a genre which WDuld become a mainstay in \vestem culture.
Poetic ideals of feminine beauty resounding in the artist's minds were a motivating factor in most female portraits. Poets and ~Titers such as AgnoJoFirenzuo!a, Giangiorgio
Trissino, and Federingo L uigini fueled the beliefs that a woman Qf un surpassing beauty and virtue could be depicted on the canvas, and existed for their viewing pleasure. Palma
Vecchio's female portraits are a prime e:xample of stich poetic iiscense. With their alabaster skin, golden hair, and vermillion lips, the ladies gaze intensely at the viewer, acknowiedging that no distance nor time could keep her from returning the gaze. This granted the viewer the abiiity to seek solace in the image.
The courtesan, \vho is often vie"ved as the sitter in Palma's portraits, lived an autonomous existence apart from the societal rules for women. Educated, beautiful, and elegant, she ruled the hearts and bank accounts of many of the male elite in Venice. Her
I::xistencc and success is due in pan to the role she played within the artistic world in
Venice. Through her involvement in a patriarchal society, the courtesan lived in a culture which was part of her own doing. It was a culture \:vhich was sUPl-1Orted by her enigmatic qualities as a woman who fulfilled the f~mtasies of men on the canvas, and in the bedroom.
A coehsion of elemems exist within the female portraits by Paima Vecchio. A large piece of the social fabric of Venice lay in the story of the female portrait, the poetic ideal ofteminine beauty, and the courtesan, The folJO\ving essays are an exploration of these dements and the female portraits by Palma Vecchio fit the category,
-'< CHA.PTER I THE FEMALE PORTRAIT IN THE ITALIAN RENLAJSSANCE
Leonardo da Vinci once said concerning female portraiture, that to paint a female one had the potential to charm the male beholder to such an extent that the very identity of the \voman did not matter. 'l Leonardo was living in a time in history where the men were memorialized in stone and bronze. Women too were depicted in portraiture, but not in the same fashion, nor with the same Jintention in mind. The story of the portrait began as a practical function in the commemoration of men after death. While this continued to be a primary function of the portrait during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, it appears that ulterior motives crept in concerning the female portrait.
Palma Vecchio, a Venetian painter and contemporary of Titian and Paris Bordone, executed a group of female portraits that have puzzled art historians for years. Two of these paintings, I)or/ruil i~((j WUlJluil cuffed I,u FJdlu and I'ortruit (~(u vVoman in /)n~flle,
rp 1v hr rrc 1~'J'gs\~ . .I.,I ...... ') ,l a"'...... alTIOnnI b'" a snroup ofnpar...i. "''''' .i.J t\"en*,"''1' 1..) sun,ivl'no.i.," .. Jib nal'ntin1-' J..J. bV~ ...... P!-\lm'l'C ...i._ oJ ,ntpnu''''ns.J...i..i.\.-_..I ... \~~.J...... were far more comnlicated than sinmlv denictin2 beautiful women for the sake of 1.. 1. -,' I '-" portraiture and commemoration. Many art hlstonans have claImed that the women SItting
: da Vinci, L.. Leonardo on PWnJi,;g. an Afllhology (ll "Vnwlg'l by Leonardo da l"mci wtlh a Sdecl/ofl of f)ocuments relatmJ.! 10 HIS Career as an Artist. Martm Kemp, ed., Yale University Press, New Haven, 1989.26
I l' fi:lr the portraits were simply courtesans or common prostitutes,: Nevertheless, v.ithin these two paintings lie numerous influences of portraiture from the fifteenth-century. . - .
Palma V t:i.:chio foilowtu tnt: provocative ruUle of the Venetian artist. He depicted creatures on the canvas that could be\vltch the male vjc\vcr to the point ,)f obsessl0n.
Palma intended to depict what many poets at the time of the Venetian Renaissance attempted to descnbe through verse WhiCh is ideal femmme beauty,
John Pope Hennessey states in his book The Porlrw/ mIlle Renuissance. that the initial rok of the portrait '>vas a commemorative one. The portrait \-vas directed to\vards
of proper records of the huma~n face. An example of this is the death mask. A functlonal tool, the death mask was necessary for large commemorative functions such as the commeH10ratn,c liu::.! mc:dai of I, iliPpO Brundlesdll." Berger suggests the f,tlnily archive
L 5 4 tIle Earl\'.< rv10dern _.Dortrait. I-Ie internrcts.i the nortraitj. as an effect of tb_e nainter1 >; vision of the soui and an Interpretation of the formal and arehrval eVIdence of ttl': sitter. The
. . .-' .• . " ~ " . -~ J J ~ t~ I p0l1ratt was an epitome or tnt sitter s cnaracler. as it was mamtesteo oy tne arflilY
betvveen the sitter and the artist Although it is a modern interpretation of the function of the portrait Berger may be COlT!;;Ct. But accordmg to other scholars, portraIture Involved a
2 Rylands.-P f)-iI/rna i'"{!(chi(;· Carnhridge {JnjvcT~iry PTe~s_, Carnhridgc. JQ9':' 89 Rylands nlakf"; E cc-rn!nent stating that S0I11e of Pal rna ~ s blondes are intended to sexually arousing. I "~yould insist that ail of
Paltna C s blondc~ in the groups of painting::; at hand~ still in exi~tt;;nCe~ were Hlte;fH.led tv be :scAuaHy (JIOU$ ing. Patricia F0!1ini Brown also insinuates thaI the images by Palma under e':amination auesrs to the rael that the ambiguity of the images lends to the assmnptlOn that courtesans wen.' the sitters -' Pope Hennessey .. l~ ltle f"lurtrail in the J?enai.~.\anL'e. Pantheon .. Ne"\y '{ark .. 1963 .. 8.
1 Tb~d 1 R The death !jl(1sk rnadf' ()fthe architect of the Santa '~\1(jri~ de' Fiore in Flc,reno:e \\i(!~ H~E:d h-:-l pro duce the connuernoratlve InedaHion of Brunclh:schi. It no\~; hangs on the exterior ofd~,e Florence C:~lhc- .~ -" -' UJdll. " Berger. H .. Fictions of the Pose, Facing the Gaze of'Ead" Iviodern Pomaiture". Repre~eflwl1Uns. 46, 1994, 90 t- Ibid. 89. 5 People did not simply sit for portraits in the Renaissance. The artist's Job was to tInd a proper balance bdween truth and naUerv and to render a nedible likeness. while salisl~ling the patron's expectations of a pleasing appearance. 11 is safe to say that the primary fUIlction of the portrait ,vas to record the sitter's activity, status, or behavior, In the displa:y culrure of
Re:naissance Ital,;, '! these portraits signifIed \vealtll and Importance of lineage.l) ... - -- " ...... -
Yet further discussion ahout the hirth of (he portrait hy Pope-Hennessey leads to the proclamation that the ponrait expresses the rcav,.. akening of human interest in human motives and character. It is the story ofhmv the eyes ceased to be linear symbols and
Hennessey shouid consider the eyes a powerful component in the function of the portialt. In the later years of the Renaissance, the gaze in Renaissance portraiture evolved into an object \vhich held a distinct arl10unt of po\ver over tIle \:ie\ver ill tile portrait,
rnarticlllarlv ~ in the female •nortrait
Pameia Slmons, who 'wrote speeificaiiy on the profile portrait and the male gaze in the Renaissance, introduced several theOries on the purpose of the female profile
in c>arlv Rpna-i"S"'I'C" D"n,,-W"'1ne-SS{~\' Inent;on" tn' ·,t ",hI"e' nror'';l,~ H,"H' "nrt"";"pVl 1."1." ..i..iJ. t"n'-"j ~ "" L •..' "".1 1o.J U L """. J. VP""" .J. .1\,.rJ. .1.1 "'... .1 .1Il.l. Lvi,.. u. ... "' .... 1..1 1..... '['he.1 1-'.1 .l..i",,", l'Yu...:; not the most advantageous depiction of the sjtteT, it was the most flattering vie\\.' And for thIS reason, until the late fifteenth century. the profile was the only way In \V::"Ilch all women were cast. 1"
Simon's has a different view on the artifice of the femaie portrait. Pope-
Hennessey describes the depiction ofladies in portraits, such as Ghirlandaio's POrirmf ol
BrOV~11 .. P,t __ , ~tir! t.Jf'ui L{fe in Renai5;sance F'enice. HaiTj' 1'J. ~illt.bralnS Publishers.. !'Jev.. ' york.. 1997" 144, c, 'finagli) P.~ JfiOiiU!ii In [tLilian l?enai.')'suiice Arl.- (;tfuder !leprest:ntatioii, 1(1en'i~l/. i\.1anchestcr lJniversll.y Press. r"jew York. 1997.47. 'Ibid" '3
1 {j Pope-Hennesse\'. J._ 111e Portrait in the l~enais.. \'ance,Pantheon~ Ne\v 'f{ork~, 41. 6 hair," Simons attests that the elements \vhich make the image pleasing to the eve are simply descriptions ofthe woman's essential beauty, They an: highlights uf her abIlity 1u
depiction of the \voman in profile, but to 5irnons, the girl in the portrait cannot be simply seen as an image of a \voman from the RenaIssance. She should be seen as an image \vhich was once gazed upon with great contemplation as a showcase of her virtue or as a prized pieee of her famiiy's prosperity, The importancil:; of'women in society 'Vms centered around her family and their roles as respectable and virtuous \vives and mothers,l~ The
The motives behind the female profile portrait were not seen untIl the iate twentieth century, Jakob Bur~hardt, In hiS Iht:' ( 'ivili:::atioll oft/it: HlmalSSalll..e ill ll£i~"', stated that "women stood on a footing of perfect equality \vith men in the itaiian
Renaissance since the educated woman, no less that the man, strove naturally aftcr a characteristic and compiete individuahty" Burkhardt continues In stating that the
"education given to women in the upper classes \vas essentially the same as that given to men,"" Neither of these declarations are true for t.~ere is no adequate proof of their sociai
'1 1.. h d ~ ~'...l '" :J'iT ' ~ equa 1ity It is Clear tuat he past I,. ecaues ulu not questIOn eXistIng (. JHerenCes In men anI..! women dunng the Renaissance, Therefore It is no surpnse that scholars rarely saw a distinction between the depidion of men and women in fifteenth and early sixteenth- century portraiture,
The profile portrait was "painted by mak artists [.)r male patrons, TheY'Hiere
"P'ope-Hennessey, ThePormm, 45. iC Tinagli, W'omell 49
I"! Burkhardt I .. Inc (~i1'iliza/io!l (?f the l{cnaissance in Italy. ~vliddlelnore~ London. 1960~ 240~ 241, drsp!av cu!tu!'e, '''''here the outvvard display of "vealth '.vas vltal to one's social prestJge and
definitiun, J' A wuman was an uDJe/.:t ur pub11/': dIsplay at the Uillt: or her rnarnagt:. Wli.hlfl a rnarriage or betr()thal conlraCl~ a \-VOTnan \vas sc~n as a thing to he adorned. /\ murrlagc
honorable degree or adornlnent \vas necessary l{)f the persons present to particIpate in the so,·called visual dispJay v"nich LOok place at the r.itual (ie marriage! i' She was rarel\'
or a woman's primary roles before maniage \\.:ts to be a beautiful thing to looh. upon ull the rnost in1l)ortant day of her life. She \vas then shut into ht~r horne to be a dutiful \\,"ife and mother
public IS to be looked upon'"' .. ,vIote GiovannI Bocacclo!~. -rhe Inale gaze and felnale portraiture arc intimateIj/ linked upon closer scrutiny_ It is iInpossihle to look bcyc~nd the tact that these Images were made for men to look upon The male gaze withm the profile pottrait eXptJses issues concermng the mind of the Renaissance male. One of the issues to be exposed is that control \.!lnanatca O\Ccr thl! fain~r scx~ even In the art of portratturc.
from the be£innjng of the profile portrai~r in Italy:; one h<1s to \\'onder \vh_y the figure v..-as portrayed m such a fashlon. Pope-Hennessey suggest~ that til.: transition wi1i(;h existed between the profile and fruntai portrait were wntamed m a iung sene::; uf
Simons, . women in Frames", 4! Besides holding a ;jght grasp on who rhe women would marn,', members of the ruhng class m patncian j. lorenee retmned numerous restnctions on proper female bdlaVl0r for \VDmen of tht-ir class. ,~. ~iiYtnn" k·\Vornen in FrtHTle'· Th~ (T~G't~, thE' Fye tht" Pfon1f' in Renl1~'~Jnt-:e Pl",rtT.a:,n1ft=>" Jht' r.Yr~allifjng j)rv..;uur,";c. j-;e11lini.\u: an~i .Ar! 11is!oty. ~. B!"oudc & !VLC', Garrard~ eds.~ leon Editions~ !\cv-./ \~ork. 1;)92. 41 Djjpld~~' ~uttlHe i~ indicated by th~ v illuat dl~play of honoi ~ iHagnifi\:cn(:,~_ and -'~,;(.alth, CIt;nic.Hl:~ vital to one's sociai prestige and ddinilion. '" Ibld. 42 ,- Ibid .. 4L Boccacclo. G .. flU: (~urba(:ci(j, L;rbana~ 1975.68. 8 cxneriments1 - heiIinnin}!~ -....; \vith- a cut silhouette. Thi~ in hIm hecame- a 501i:d imaiIc-' caught~_ momentarily in side face. The cheek, \vhich \vas originally an unfamilIar terrain, was ~ ,"'- ~ plotted sectIOnally on the swiace of the panel. It a(.;quired an intelligible shape in which the jU\V and cheekbone are dcfjncd.l~ But \vhy \vt!re \VOlnen the nlain suhjects in mf)st fifteenth-century profile portraits? Indeed, the issue of the gaze is a complicated one.
worldliness and virility. makin2 a Renaissance woman an ohiect of nuhlic discourse who ~'.....,., _, I
,vas exposed to examinations that were framed by propriety, display and "impression iuanagement".1') The profile \Vas in line with the strict socia! laws adhered to by the chaste and married women of Florence. Rarely permitted to walk in the city streets during the day, a noble woman was considered to be chaste. modest, and possessing obeisance. She was to lower or avert her eyes In publIC, particularly ill the presence of a
'D t • 1. 1 I • " tllan.- Poe t ess 'verOlllca , . \JaIn,-, bara \VrOIC' I'1 la," Sile~ 1oO ....:ea upon !ler () b"~leCI 0 t··"" aestre an~d
\~vas confrontc(l not bv a man., but ~I\vatcrs"" and a -'''QraCiOtIS site ..... She narrates the nlight ... ~ "-" ..i. ...., of the nobie \-voman of the Renmssance Z1 Smce she was a nobte\voman. she could nO! look a man fullv in the face.~: Sermons from San Bernardino who addressed women from his pulpit to '-'-Bury )Tour cy'es .... f0110\'i the strict social confines a proper \\rOlnan faced in
si\teenth-century society 23 A woman's eyes in the profile fonn, which cannot be downcast are instead detlected or averted. Thence she is decorously chaste, the
1" POPe-Ilennessy~ J)orlraif, 3. , Ibid, 42 The last section or the impres."ofi nUlIIugemeni, Simons referenced the sociologist [,V)fig GotTman in his The PresematlOfi ol5'ellin Everydc~r LUe, Garden City, N.Y., 1959 . . ', SImons. --Women·. 50. In fifteenth-century SOCIety. Women were di5couraged to make dIrect eye contact \vith a rnan for fear that he \vould be ten1pted by her J 21 Crail1ha r1\, \/ , Fht: 1):zjiiiHI rifuf;~e.- Italian j<{?fiifni5;; f ocnI5,-)rOill tht! !\1hldlt? Age:.; to the f'n..:s;lZiit, ,\\len, l(itteL, and JeyvelL cds .., J\Je\\' \:'"ork~ 1986. SitHOns goes on to rnention ofGarnbara~s that she 1.vas stated as saying with wit that her ,;Ollnet slips between contradictions, not even requiring an unavailable: male object of the gaze: . desire is spent except for you alone... said to her ··blest piaces.-- " Simons, "Women", SO men to ogle. The Renaissance man possessed an inherent fear of a woman's gaze. Lyrics
by Petrarch which claim "her eyes have the power to turn [him J to marble", as wel! as
Pietro Bembo's remarks of "I gaze defenselessly into a woman's iove:ly eyes and lose
myself"15 more than assert how an average man of the Renaissance culiturc believed the su-
pernatural power of a woman's gaze. This "Medusa Effect" must have put a mythologi-
cal fear of the Almighty into the hearts of all noble men.26 Regardless, it was thought that
a woman's gaze had the power to utterly bewitch a man to the point which he would lose
control over his heart.
Love, as it was generally argued, began with the gaze, when the eyes of the woman
set forth a flame.27 The power of the image kept the Renaissance painter busy at produc-
ing new and innovative depictions of female sitters as ideal1y passive and modest young
. women. Theirs are the works which depict women who were viewed in the static form,
unable to arouse any sense from men other than their ability to chose a suitable wife
based on a profile image. 28
The transition of the profile into the frontal portrait was a monumental task cred-
ited to Leonardo da Vinci (Fig. 4). His painting of Ginevra de Benei has been universally
acknowledged as a groundbreaking work. Upon its completion, The Portrait qj'Gin(."Vra
de . Bend must have been one of the most astounding visions to behold. Ginevra, in a
three-quarter length image confronts the viewer with a frontal gaze, looking to engage in
conversation. Leonardo did not make her portrait into the typical sexually-charged image
l' Simons, Women. 50. 10 TIle teml "Medusa Et1ect" is in reference to the Greek Gorgon who was a female monster who possessed the power to turn a man to stone if she gazed directly upon him This term is used by Simons in refer ence to the fear which accompanied the fifteenth-century views of the female gaze upon man, and the power entailed there. ,- Goffen, R, "'Titian's Sacred and Profane Love and Marriage", nle Expanding J)h,{.:ollrse: Feminism & Art HL'ItOly. Icon Editions, NY., 1992, 114.
!X Simons, "Women", 42-43. It is evident thal the profile portrait was intricately involved in the betlOthal, dowry, and marriage process. The appearance of the young woman in the portrait, ie the dress and jew elry she wore, and her level of apparent beauty to the viewer,was intricately involved in choice made by her (future) husband. fO universally acknowledged as a groundbreaking work. Upon its completion, the Portrait
ojGinevra £Ie' Bene; must have been one ofthe~ most astounding visions to behold.
Ginevra, in a three-quarter length image confronts the viewer with a frontal gaze, looking
to engage in conversation. Leonardo did not make her portrait into the typical scxually-
charged image which followed the evolution of the profile portrait. He created an image of
a woman which could be seen as respectable, gazing at the viewer in a noncapricious
fashion. On the contrary, Palma Vecchio's Pr(?file Porirait (!fa [,(/(~y (F ig. J) and Por/rail
(?la Lady calied La Belia, (Fig. 2) are images which faU into the category offcrnalc
portrait prototypes that were prevalent in sixteenth-century Venice.
It has been thought that Leonardo's mterpretations of females was abnormal. He
portrayed woman as individuals and as possess1lng inteliigence, as weil as a biOlogical
equal of the human species and philosophical ascendant to the principle in the cosmos. 29
of extraordinary nature. Her portrait, thought 10 have been commissioned hy Bernardo
Bembo, points to a characteristic of the woman who was Ginevra de' Benci.
A renowned beauty, Ginevra was a PO{~t in the Medici court of Florence who
added a great deal of culture to the court.-~o Scholars bdieve that the portrait which now
hangs in Washington, D.C. was a marriage portrait. The juniper bush behind the sitter's
head as well as the inscription on the opposite side of the panel reads VIRTUTEM
FORMA DECORAT. A Latin inscription such as this is a characteristic attributed to bridal portraits. 31 By this observation, Bernardo Bembo could not have been the patron
for Leonardo's painting. But ,"'Ie know that Bernardo Bembo commissioned ten poems
'" Garrard, 1'.1.," Leonardo da Vinci: Female Portraits, Female Nature", 11u: Expanding DiscvIII'.'it:: Femi nism & Art History. Broude & Garrard, eds, icon Eds., New York, 1992,59. '0 Ibid, 61. 31 Ibid., 61. II but Ginevra de' Benci the poet of intellectual11irfu 33
A knowledgeable man might choose to regard a woman as his moral and intellec- tual inferior, his equal or even his superior. A Renaissance man would have been standing
against strict prejudices concerning the female mind and character becaLL~e of the JX>ten-
tially dangerous otherness that men perceived in women. 34 Leonardo's attempt to depict
Ginevra as he saw her, as more than a beautiful woman, birthed a genre offemale portrai-
ture \o\'hich revolutionized the depiction of women in art.
Petrarch, the father of Humanism, is given dose ties to the execution of Leon-
ardo's Purtrait (~lGinevra de Benci. Cropper suggests that classic models of this idea
would be Petrarch's Laura and Dante's Beatrice. Petrarch's quest to capture the thought of ideal beauty within a pictorial image is thought to be housed in Leonardo's painting.35
It is easy to believe that in discerning Leonardo's evident admiration for women of intel- lectual status as well as physical beauty, he was also within a social sphere which cele- bratcd the depiction of ideal fcmale beauty, a sphere which \\'as exclusiv~: to male mcm- bers.
Aside from the social analysis of Leofll:lLfdo's portrait of Ginevra de' Bencl, a cer- tainty remains: Leonardo possessed an idea about female portraiture unlike the traditional painter of the fifteenth century. To him, the portrait should project the female as a mem- ber of the human race. She is a participant as much as any man, and capable of things \) Ganani Leonardo da Vinci. 64. Leonard enjoyed a persona] fnendship with the Benci family. He was a close fliend of Ginevra's brother, Giovanni. Another possible attribution to the patronage for the Wash ington portrait has been given by some scholars to Leonardo himself, who is thought to have painted the portrait out of gratitude for having stayed at the Benci palace. "Rancois Rabelais (c 1494-1553), quoted in Ranum, 244. "nature has placed within their bodies, in a sacred, intestine place, an animale, a member, which is not in men. As expressed by Rabelais, physical professor of anatomy, viewed the uterus as a n entity which was controlled by the moon, and caused flight ening behavior in women. This supernatural misunderstanding of the female gender was very common in Renaissance thought. "Garrard references the issue of the paragon of ideal beauty, as created through Petrarch in her article on Leonardo da Vinci on page 61, Elizabeth Cropper's essay "TI1e Beauty of Woman: Problems in the Rheto ric of Renaissance Portraiture", in Rew"itin~ the Renaissance: The lJiscollrses ofSexllal D!lJerence In Farly Modern Europe. will be referenced again and in the fo'llowing chapters. 12 Aside from the social analysis of Leonardo's portrait of Ginevra de' Benci, a certainty remains: Leonardo possessed an idea about female portraiture unlike the traditional painter of the fifteenth century. To him, the portrait should project the female as a member of the human race. She is a participant as much as any man, and capablc of things Wh1ch were given only to men.
The Platonic state of mind demonstrated by Leonardo in his first portrait, appears again in his Portrail (lCeciliu (;uilerani. (Fig. 5) An extraordinary woman Cecilia \vas the lover of Lodovico Sforza, Duke of Milan. She was "acclaimed for her incomparable beauty and sparkling intelligence".% Gallerani was noted for her ability to carry on
learned discussions with famous theologians and philosophers. She wrote epistles in
Latin and celebrated poems in Italian. ~7 Leonardo created a portrait prototype in the jJortrait (i ('edlia Gallerani by dIsplaying a figure which may be one of the tirst examples of a courtiy lady. Cecilia, the mistress of Ludovico Sforza for tcn years, \vas above the stigma that occurred vvithin Renaissance court society and the position of mistresses at court. Cecilia's intellectual rcnO~\Tn and !-ugh soCta! status was above the traditionally inferior position of the courtier. \Ve see within her an early instance ofthe courtesan. 3~ The vvoman who was the courtier was a severe contrast to the silent, chase, and obedient wife. She was celebrated as intelligent, accomplished, outspoken, and sensual. 39 Leonardo's PortraIt ofCecilia Galleram is an image of an admired a.lld beautiful woman ofhi£!h status at court. but is subiect to the male £!aze. even under the brush of - ~.., ~ ~
'0 Intormation on Cecilia's personality comes from Felice Calvi, Famiglic NOlabili Milancsi, vol. HI r.li Ian Antonio VallardL 1884.n.p., and from Francesco Malaguzzi-VaJerL La Corte £Ii Lodovico il JHoro. Milan V, Hoepli, 1Q29, voL II, 465ft' ~ ~ Information about Gallerani'5 achievements are praist~d by JFrancesco l\gostino deHa Chiesa~ Incatro delie donne letterate (Mondovi, I ()20) P 124. All ,-,f the above research was ped,)riiled by Mary Garrard and end noted in her anicie "Leonardo da Vinci; Femaie Portraits, Female Nature', from The Er:panding Dismurse: reminiM/1 & Art His/my. N. Broude & MD Garrard, cds., Icon Editions, New York 1992, 58-85. ;x Garrard, "Leonardo da Vinci", 64. '" Ibid .. 64. praised because she is shmvn listening rather than speaking, and as a creation of Leon- ardo's hand, he wIll succeed m keepmg the sItter's beauty alIve for generatIOns to come.;;
Leonardo is quoted in a reply to l3elhncioni:
"How many paintings have preserved the image of divine beauty of which time or sudden death have destroyed Nature's original, so that the work of the painter has survived in nobler form than that of Naturc, his mistrcss."r
The issue of the portrait in the eyes of Leonardo and male viewers such as the poet Bel- linciont implies that Leonardo strove to preserve her majesty ofthought and mtellectual brilliance. Bellincioni asserts that the beauty of the painting itself survives over any of the original ideas pertaining to the sitter, while Leonardo argues in his reply that the pres- ervation of lost beauty is what is at stake. Leonardo insists that the the true image of the sitter does not particularly matter, and the artist, patron, or creative nature itself will take over, resulting in the original siner to be inconsequential.
The sixteenth-century artist who created images of ideal feminine beauty \vhich did not exist in nature alludes to an evolutionary change in the female portrait. Paintings that came to be under the rubric of temale portraiture did not always bear a complete re- semblance to the sitter. ~J
Whatever Leonardo da Vinci's ultimate goal in the realm of female portrait paint- ing may have been, there is no denying his immense influence on the genre. His intluence spread throughout the artistic arenas of Italy into different traditions of paintinK Looking into the si)<.ieenth century, we see an uprising of a speci fie purpose of th'': female portrait, particularly in the island city of Venice " Garrard, "Leonardo da Vinci", 65 Bellincioni, Rime Sparse. (1493 ed), Malaguzzi-Valeri, 1929, vol, II, 470 " Garrard, "Leonardo da Vinci ", C15. "Many of Pal rna Vecchio's portraits have been thought guility of this. Some of the female fIgures appear to portray an anificial quality which many historians have thought to be women ngures which were conjur·· ing of the artist's imagination. In his book on Palma Vecchio, Ryiands mentions that of the twenty fe male images, they must have been intended as portraits. It is possible that they are generalized images, where the sitter did not exist. 1-1 \Vhatcver Leonardo da Vinci's ultimate goal in the realm offcmalc portrait
painting may have been, there is no denying his immense influence on the genre. His
influence spread throughout the artistic arenas or Haly into different traditions of
painting. Looking into the sixteenth century, we sec an uprising of a specific purpose of the female portrait, particularly in the island city of Venice.
and decadent city unlike anywhere else in Renaissance Eurone The art and artists in ~ ~ l
Venice came to be world-famous, as weli as the \-vomen ",vho \-vere portrayed on the canvases. Criticism by the tourists at that time who visited Venice spok.e of the
in the paintings by Palma Vecchio
A contemporary of TitIan, Palma VecchIO produced his own oeuvre of female
portrmts whIch have puzzled art historians for decades. The group of approximateiy tvvcnty paintings of unidentified \vomcn came to be scattered about the \vorld after
Palma's death at the age of 48. Some analyses of the portraits claim the paintings ,,",erc not intended as portraits of individuals, but as generalized and profane s1tatements of feminine beauty inspired by courtesans in the spiril of the Petrarchan poetry revivai then in vogue in Venice, 11 Indeed, the general analysis of the paintings as a whole are very good examples of Petrarchan poetry arld ideal beauty. But on a closer exmnination of t\vo paintings from this group, /'ortruil (~la vVoman (;alleJ La Bella and Portraif (~la Woman m j)rotiie. are notable examples of the traditional portrait painting taken to a different level. Palma appears to have achieved the standard of ideal beauty \vithin this small
Ii Mandel, C, "(Jacapo)t Giacomo J Palma (i I) Vecchi,}"', Ihe tina'/:, i>lct!O!lm}" of Art Onlme. Oxford Un. Press~ ~A:t.ccessed ~1arch 30~ 2004.,
added tantalizing t\vists to his compositions which tel! a story about the women \vithin
the frames, as well as the men who gazed at U1em.
A probiem surrounding Paima's paintings is the fact that most an historians have,
in a swift generalization, made all of the sitters courtesans. While this is an idea to
contemplate, it produces speculation into another question involving female portriature in
the Renaissance The issue of identity in female portraiture needs to he discussed
An inventory conducted in 1529 of Palma's studio lists contents which were
categorized in all advantageous manner. The Jilale por1raits which remained in his Palma's
studio \v~!re identified in the same \vay: Portrait of Pier .l\ntonio Zorzi., '{'he ~,1an fr(Jm
Murano, etc. the identity of the sitters in the paintings, save one, were anonymotls. 15
1dentlty of female SItters In RenaIssance portraiture IS not a modern ITIlsunderstandll1g,
nor was infonnation about the patronage and sitter lost The sitters in these images were
.ltV\'~~"C~ ! ;nt'~~dedIlllvll "0l h~L'-' g;"enIV 1 (\0 \...l~~finl'''~ ..... 1 l ...... 1;d~nt;h' '"' ll,)', '1lJ..."VVl1J ".""Sv"a. thl'l~. ~') '--,1'-'1-'r~~~p~~ vl,:"to. d'otc~ ,:, "ha"liC II mon" ta ')'
portraits of unknown beautiful women are now characterized as representations of ideai
beauty in which the question of identity is immatenial."" No unidentified male portrait on the other hand, is ever said to be a beautiful representation made for its own sake. A
technical explanation is called the synecdoche./hr beaut}'. By this she means that the representation of beauty, or a woman who was physically beautiful, was: also seen as beauty itself.47 This is very similar to the dilemma which Leonardo seemed to have faced
in his Portrtut o/Ceclira Gaileral1l. Leonardo's vvish to express the nonphysical qualities of the sitter in the portrait, are overshadowed in the paintings by Palma. The viewing audience. which was predommately male, requested a personification of physical beauty l' Rylands, P, Palma T'ecchio. Cambridge U Prei>s. 1988. Si3. " Cropper, M" "The Beauty of Woman Probiems in the Rhetoric of Renaissance Portraiture". Relrriling the Renaissance. U. of Chicago, 1986, 178. 4"' Cropper. "The Beauty'~~ 176. i6 wealthy means. Palma's La Bella mirrors Titian's painting by the same title. Although little is kll0W about the attribution or patronage associated w-ith Paima's J"a Bella, much is knovvTI about Titian's painting. (Fig. 6) Commissioned by the Duke of Urbino, he wrote to Titian requesting that the ~'portrait of the lady in the blue dress to be finished as soon as possible, and also requested that it be beautiful.+s The Duke's readiness to purchase a painting of a beautiful woman whose name he does nol mention and probably did nol care to know, has led to speculation about Titian's purpose in painting it. 49 ironically, the woman in Titian's painting has been identified as the same woman who posed for Titian's
Venus (~/ Urhinu.;11 Did, in fact, the Duke of Urbino simply commission a painting of a beautiful woman to satisfY his visual appetite? It is logical to assume that the two paint- ings entitled La Belia were created under the same pretenses.
Since the time of commemoration and dynastic: identity in portraits, the art of portraiture changed in the eyes of the Venetian artist. The transformation in portraiture that occurred in Venetian schools of painting resulted centuries later in the modern at- tempt to classify the erotic works, such as those produced by Palma, into a cohesive group. 'Paintings of people' 51 is one attempt at the classification. Another was to simply call the erotic images the first pin up. 52 Neither of thesle is a fitting generalization. Clearly
" Cropper, 111e Heall~.v. 179 '" Ibid., i 79. ", Ibid., 179
'! Hirst, M., Sebastiano del Piombo, Claredon Press, Oxford, J981, 93. Hope later states in his article Problems ~(lnterpretations that it has been often argued that pictures of this type, which were by Venetian artists, have a complex philosophical content, usually associated with Neo-Platonism. Pope does not agree with this argument, as well as myself The fact that there were so many paintings of this kind being produced in Venice during the sixteenth century, is evident that paintings of erotic content, mythological or non, was very popuiar and in great demand by the wealthy maJe citizens of Venice. 5: Hope, c., "Problems of Interpretations in Titian's Erotic Paintings", Tizicmo e Venezia: Convegno In ternazionale di Stud; Neri Pozza Editore, Venice, 1976, 119. Hope makes the statement that the tradi tion of the pinup girl seemed to have gradually developed He refers to Giorgione's Laura which is a three quarter image of a young woman with one bared brei-1st, but is also wearing an expensive fur-lined cloak I believe that this a generalization which has been clouded by the modern idea of the pinup. A more noble desire was present in the patron's wish to procure paintings such as portraits produced by Palma. These women were more akin to wishful idealizations of what the men desired in the fairer sex, J7 call the erotic images the tlrst pin up. 52 Neither of these is a fitting genera!i 7 ::1tion. Clearly there was a portrait type' that was produced to the specifications of the patron. Images of \vomen were made for a paying clientele which were not specific indivduais, but idealizations of women who may have appeared in several other paintings hy the same
Vecchio's 1~G(~'y' H'llh a /,ule, descrihed hy Marcantonio Michiel as -a canva<; ofa woman, waist iength, who hoids in her right hand a iute, and has her ieft hand under her head, by
Jacopo Palrna. ,54 The same woman is said to appear in Dresden's Three S;sien, another
Palma was not the only Ve:netian artist known to use the same model in his female portnats. TItian lIsed the same model in hIS Girl in the Fur Coal and the Vcnus of
Urbino; both images of ideally beautiful types of female portraits. 5'
1.. Th11 ;sl ""P"L,Y \.. "!a~Vv ;:, "'hntvy n Dnlma1 all 11ml'~" I':'\' 1..n""llav\.. ~Ol10,,,,,;11- 1 VV\..r\.J \U,,.11.\,..1111'-"'''' 1..0 \or."x"n"ted \.A.. U - t..;~111':' ~cmnl"1 ,It_'ll\" portralts. Although he must have been schooled in the art of deplctmg a sitter in a noble c, Hirst M., Sebastiano dei Piombo. Claredon Press, Oxford, 1981, 93 Hope later states in his al1iclt: Prohlems o,flnterpretarions rhflt it has been often llrgued that pichlre<; ofthi<; type, which were hy Venelif]n artists~ have a cOIllp!ex philosophical content~ usually associated v,~th l'oJeo-Platonistrl. Pope does not
i agree '\.1 iith this arglnnent 7 as ,,;yell as myself The fact that there iNert:' so many paintings of this kind being produced in 'V"entc.e during the sixteenth cenrury, is e\'ident that paintings of erotic content, mythologicnl 01 Hon, was very popuiaI aud ill gH::al U\:JIllllld uy lhe weailiiy male clll£eu:> or Velli\.:e. ,; Hope, C, "Problems of interpretations in Titian' s Erotic Paintings", [mana e Venezw: Comvguo In lerna;:ionaie d; Stud/ Neri Pona Editore, Venice, 1976, .119 Hope makes the statement that the tradi·· tion nfthe pinup girl seemed to have gradually developed He refers to CTlorglone's Laura '.vhich 1S:~ three quarter in1age of a young \Alon1fifi 'vith one bared breast; but is also \A.reanng an expensi~/e fur-li~!.ed cloak, ! bclic~v'c that this a generalization vvnich has been clouded by the ~nodcm idea of the pinup. i\ more noble Je~ile was pre~eni ill the patron's wish to pWt:U!e paintings ~ut:h as portraits pwdut:t:d oy Paima. The~e women were more akin to wishful idealizations of what the men desired in the fairer sex. "Tinagli, W'ortll!n 102-103. Tinagli proposes that in contrast to the art of portraiture in.Florence, which v.,'as adamant about familiaJ represent:ltion and lineagt~ through fe'male portraiture: '/enice v;as immune to this need_ The traditjon never took root in the Serfni.\"siJlh7 vlhere the poJjticBl and s()cial structure v/ere disparate from the feuding territories in Tuscany. Insicad, a type of portraiture deVeloped on its vv~/n., pro ducing ihrce··quaner-Iengih images which are prevalent in [ile oeuvres of Palma Vct:chio, Tilian, and Paris Bordone. ,., Tinag!L ~fomen. J03. <;, rhld: 10,1
j() 10 \vith stunningly erotic images of narneless beautiful women.)/
In Palma"s Por/mll o/a Woman in Prqfiie. (Fig. 2) the profile ofponrait is given ai1 unexpected tVvist. The sitter coquettishiy looks from oVer heT shoulder at the ViCWeI in a Cf:quettish n1anner \vhi'le she gestures '~vith her left hand, eXllding a 'l.'v'iltingness to undress herself Men were meant to (!aze UDon this ima~..!e. for she looks to be actin!! of ...... t ~-' ~ ~ her own free wiii!. There is no notion, on the part of Palma, to appoint control upon the sitkr, as \\as d\)ne in the pmfik po(traits of the fifteenth century. The apparent fear that
clenched the hearts of the F~enaissance 111an has tratlsfofIlied into sOHlelhirl~....' flirtatious ... hordering on the erotic 'T'his painting cOll!d he seen l.n direct corre!atlfHl \vlth the mnovatIOn m Leonardo·s hmrOlf oteJl11evra de' Rend who deplcts the sitter to be mkradmg wIth sOIll~one outside of the pldure plane, and iookmg dir~cUy at the \ileW~L
is also clear that l1C "vas greatly influenced by the eroticism \vhich had taken over the world of Renarssance tCmale portraiture !II sixteenth-century Vemce .
. Paima s work stylisticaiiy suggests that he was apprentice to Andrea Previtaii. who studied under the master Giovanni Bellini This is cited from the excerpt from the Grove Dictionary of Art online
THE PC)FTIC fDF/\L OF FETvHNfNF RFr,\PTY fN THE P/\TNTTN(lS
OF PA!MA VHCCH!O
The development of the female portrait evolved towards the end of the fifteenth century into a female ponrait prototypc. Th..:: expectations of women in Renaissance
hohby for wealthy nohlemen in Venice hecame known which coupled the commissioning
no~t~~ \vf()fe nfthe itn;--HYec,: 1!n:1t canh:r~o 1heir Iiter:1fV tnjlild~ their vJord~~ manif~ 1 . - . - ~., ~ . .. r- - ~. ------." -- - . - ~ '", - - -, - - .. - .~ _. - . - - - ..-;ted complex Ideas of Ideal femmme beauty ideal poet!c beauty IS eVldent m Palma VecchlOS
::;el Jt.s of l\'It.nty femail': pOiiraJis". The Identity of the sllk:r 111 the pawlmg was not a
portraiture ~:lnbodicd the physical elem(~nts desired in fantastical t:~malc beau!:!.
A common argument m the Renaissance eXlsted between poet and palnter that concerned which \vas the purer form of art, painting or poetry. Upon closer observation,
kylalllls, p, r'alma ! t.!(;chlO. Cambndge Umver~Jly Press, Cambndge. I SiSi2. ~Si. Rylanus claIms that in Palma's oeuvre, exciuding the 'Nudes in a landscape', over twenty surviving female portraits tit into the this argument mirrors the age-old Question of the chicken and the eg£!. Therefore 1t is - - ~ -- important to understand that the two, painting and poetry, coexisted a.l1d relied heavily upon one another. Without the two, we would not hav'e recewed the numerous paintings which can be categorized as female portrait prototypes.
SIJecific paintings7. along \~vith_ the artist's ability to render such images. In his en.dless endeavor to achieve the worid of the Cla.<;sics, Renaissance man would have heen aware of the bdiefs of the Greek phiiosopher Horace who bdiev\;:d that pods and painkrs wefe
and WIth them all the accessones of dignity, grandeur and power to chann the mmd.
Pamttng does su With figures In the visual manner, as du pods, who an.: abie to visuaHy aeSCfloe1 'I In~ "voros.-, ';0
claImmg that Leonardo had immortalized Gallerani in pain!.'" Leonardo, always the man of quick opinions, is quoted on the issue:
"r ~ k" f1 . k • • . k' °h I . . 11 ""1! a poct says tum: ne can m! arne men Witu love, wmclI 15 t e central ann Hi all anilnal species. the palnter has the pc}'\ver to do the salne) and to even a greater degree, in thai he can place in front of the lover the true lIkeness of that WhICh is beloved, often making him kiss and SPeak to it. This "vouId never happen with the same beauties siei before him by the writer. So much greater IS the power of a painting over a man's mind that he may be enchanted and enraptured by a painting that does not represent an,y Jiving \VOlnan. '?6~
Leonardo ~s statement encompasses a phenomen{)n not slPoken of before. it is the
';0 Land., N ~ 71ft: Vi~11;t:r {tS !-\ft!t: Tht! b?ef1aissc!.f:Ct! Re.~J){.f!b;e to Ar1. 3
&0 Philostratus w~c Younger, In1{lRines (LeL), trans. r\.J1hUf Fairbanks, 285 . • , Ganard, ivi, "Leonardo da Vinci. Female Portraits, Female Nature", The Expanding Discourse: Femi tI/!.rtI & Al'l HWoty. Broude & &arrard, eds .. icon Eds, New York. IY92. 05 . .,' Ma11in Kemp, ed., Leonardo on PaintinJ;' an antholo~v ofwritl!1~s Dr Leonardo da Vinci with a se lection n..f {jncuments rclatin~{!, to hi,~' career a.I\,,' an artist. )"ale I Tniver~ity Pre~};_< Ne\v H8ven, ! 989_.26 21 function of the painting. l[~he irnage affords e!"otic arousal vv~jthjn the men looking UpO!1 it
The beauty of a woman could be depIcted In a \vay that would mduce the man to rely upon the image for comforl. Rogers speaks oflhe speil \'v'hich was caSI upon a man who
.. .. •• 1: .. l' ...... ,... ,. .. ,{,l possessed. suCh paIntIngs (;lUa sought tile images to If'v'C ai1d breath tor inC1T sakc.'M it
sitter and the \lie\ver. His portraits of (;inevr{! de l~enCl and (-'eel/i() (i(llier(lnl~ perfected the affect of the painted image which enraptured the male vieweL Rogers asks why thIs
were seemmgiv responsive to the spe,ctatoL were extolled m the poems"; An example ot'
LOlnbardo.;~Fig. 9) Lomb~trdG \~V:lS kn.o\vn Tor creating lTIurble busts of'\~vomcn that could
centurY would Identlty as laughtcr. glances, movement and speech,"-' Brocardo s adlmration of a marbit: bust ofTuliio Lombardo is set:n iin his vvTiltt:n verse (kscribing his
forms of art, po;;try ;.inti paint~ng, Vvere sought in the talent of the artist. There 'vas great need for the pertect female form wlthin the work. which nature could not accomphsh.
The Renaissance quest for perfect physical beauty is evident in the wrllings of Giovanni t>3 Rog.:rs, ~1.1 ,,\"c;nn ... >!s on F;..'TJ"l(lh-: rJor:r;:;f:s j;'Dnl R",t;r:ls';;:-:n{:{' ;\!orrh 1::..1(j', \Vorc s: Imag:.::. 1936, 296 . . : ibid, 2'14, Ro~;ers_ SmlrlE'f\ 296
('t> Ibid 301 The foHo\ving poem lS by .Antonio Bro{",ardo entitled (>r: a marble nust (.:fhi.\' !a(,~.. · _ He) pI]'fe S!!Cl\:V, () ,:1~oic~ ')vh~t~ !!1arb!e !!M! \~/h~(h, if r gazt ~ntently C!.!-!d fi~{:~dJy-. 1 se~ that ht;9:ve!11~f ~9..ugh Sf'!!!"" kI:ng G\'ernGV~iL~g \vith j0y 2tild delight. St;)nc you u.i'e r~ct~ rOi' this I:; the: bQSOG1, und ~hc g:!'ZtCefli1 fa~e of Illy 11llSIl(;:;" lili" i~ that pUll: ail, lhallcveab d llliglH palaaj:.e ill hel fail presellCc. Ancielil Pilidid, if amongst your marble you once made a lovely iace, who wOuld 11aV\~ seen 11111 ac110l1s. laughrec glances. movements and speech, as I this stone discern all the graces of my l!ady? And truly it seems to me that she ~peak~ vvhh ITle and r \vith her" Pao]o LOIT!azzo ~;vho YVfOtC:
"'in female portraiture beauty vmh exqmsne delIcacy will be Set~n.lmprovmg
the mi:>lake:o. l)f nature ~vith art a:-. fM .b I:; p\)S:-,ibiec, ill this ;rnitating the pods
! he Shift to the three-quarter length tema!e portnut twm the profIle could be seen,
and lips} a ,lv'hite neck and ]~crhC!ps also 'bosom and hands. Living and ',,-,Tiring in 1304-
1374_ Francesco Petrarch !s the most accomplIshed iync poet m the !ta!!!an vernacular
Possessing an ardent desire w revive the knowledge of antiquity, Peuarch \vas known as
attachment to a \voman who would become his muse, named Laura."'" Within his
( 'un:'XJIllere Pen-arch speaks of when he first gazed upon Laura. The infamation \vhich
\vhen she died of the plagu~; t\\'cnt~y years after the h~l\'C 2ffair began. \X]ithit1 the
(·'{In~(}niere lies desc.rjption of hoyv one roan envj~joned the \\!()tTt;1n he l(~ved and the Ideas which intluenced a li1erary and artistic movement His was a visIOn that became the
S I. kogers ... ~onnets . 2'1 I. ,:; Blanchard. H.H .. Prose and Poetry of the Continental Renaissance in Translation. Lon~"man' s_ Green & ('0 i'Je\v Y nrk 1949_ 1 There is ample evidence of followers of the Ideas of Petrarchan beauty m the slxreemh cemury. A Ve11(;~tian poet by the name of Ga1eazzo Capella, in his Delia
~' __ ,begi!1nlng \v!!h the e)ie~, \vhich at night are 1il~e tyVO tlan11ng stars} or !!1stead two lIving suns spreading their llghts about them, and WIth their clanty .,....~...,,"f-""'r-"1'."'--r;nq' +t~f_~ ,..,l...... 4A-.:~TC' ,..,.,f"+t-.n f.<"'~n'h ..... l~T1.. ~+ 0h.-.lt T ,-,,,'"'-, o+.-;.t..,;, 1...... : +,,-~l.,,~<;:"'<') \"..'V.1l.\. .p"l-\"..11.Hb 1.11\,..- ;::HJaJ..,.V\'v,:, Vi Ul\.,.- ll.lbllt.••• ffAla." ,,:}11UU i ':''''J .1 I.H\.. t)1Uuu ..lVl\"..UC:UU. and {1f the curved evel1fo\vs? of the refined nose? of the 'venl1ihon iIps? uf the wiltte pearls petfectly anangt:d within the beautiful \;Ural? oflhe ddt
white tiJro(lri wh(lt of the soft gold tiJre(lds, which on the ivory \V'hite skin are
This passage is one example of the great intlunece of Petrarch' s ideals of feminine beauty, and how they ar.:; inanife:-.kJ in si,\teenth-ccntwy poetry and pamtmg. The story ofPetrarch 31!d painter Sirnone ~v1artini tS an exarnple oft}le end!e~;~: qu.est to capture ideal beau1v In paint Petrarch comlni~sj()ned I\1arhni to comJ!lete a palnfing no\v lost, {)f h~c;; beloved Laura. He wrote several poems praIsmg Martmt" s artIstic abii!!tv as a pamter,
at "'tynat !,/lartini v\l~as capable af producing in p~lnt~ GS ,veU as his OV,,11 des]r~ to acqurre
6" J3tap('ha i (L j),(H:e 1() The ~-=-tHcnNing ~s a good fxarnple ~~f .Petrar(h'5 idf'2!J be(!l)!);" ~s e~'rrf'5S:f-d ~n his ('fan:r;nicrc on Lal~ra Quanaoji'a! ':::!rnz dnnn.:.~ ad ora ad ora "~\-Vhen L,o"yye his fian1ing ~mGge en her LlU'.<\, (;aUillun..:;J in perrt:(:l b~auty like it ~lal~ a::, Gu ct.;) :)h~ uui~hint;~ lh~ f~~i~ 3D i~' i i~;~i the Lla.D~ vr pa:l sion surge ana grow. yet stiH I biess the place, the hour when so supremely high. at iight so singular! dared to look "0 heart, you blessed are to gaze upon that pure, that golden glow", I murmur "She in $pired the splendid thought \vhich points to heaven and te.ache!:; honest eyes all v..'orld!~l lure~ and. \vinning~~ tQ despiSe: thrc1ugh her th?t ge!!t!~ grE!ce (Yf l'~·)vf:- is taught 'i}/hich by the 5trRlght p~th leads to pR!"f1d!5e, and c'vcr hcr~ hop"=~~ holy Cn)"y-V11111 Vir-;-al.lghr."" C'\.\.~sla;1dcr) -,', Capel1a'l v.F.'! l)clia l~{;(:t:i;t:fl~:Ll t:i ]Ji:5fJiia delle l)oJ'ine .. V t:lUl,;l,; 1527 .. 19v-20r. Thl~ pueUl \-\'d~ u:-;eJ U11 page <:14 in Ryland's book on Palma Vecchio when speaking on the poetic ideal 01 beauty within Palma Vecchio's group offema!e portraits.
- j Rogers. Sonnets. 300 The foUo\ving poem is a \vork by Francesco Petrarch' ()n Sirnone Alartini ',\' IM)r [Fcd! i~(!.a~~({,- (11~!~( h!sO n(!. !..Y:rf:'71l: H7her! S!;n~:}~!i:..s. to the rti/h!!:! i;}I:..;:.-t ;.~hlt:f~ htnf i!! !!!Y !hTfr!'!. :.uldt!d h!'.~ ;;;auaal :;kil!. {lh\.~ had CTiiiD};'C';.i :ht:jctir "r;'DrJ{ -;;,'ith ~'(;fcc LiT!;..: 11liJl!i, i.7S -..rt:if asj(~;7;;. he -;'1'Dui£i ha~'cjj·\..>c{i -, . < .,.,,1.' J .. ' ,1 .. -, -, J "! . .'1 ... . 1':. . . r f 1 lIty m;Wl jHJllJ muny .\Igrtc, lrlU{ rJlWW HIIUt (J[il(;f ,) rWI« ([(;ut c,(;cJtl nH' w me. Jill iii '~rlp(;(UUl/(;C Ml(; .(101\" humbie {HUmISm!? me peac.:e 1ft her expreC,,\/on. HUI whelll come lu speak Wtih her. she ,went,) /u listen liffv.£raciollstv: ifonlv she could repiv to mv );pords. Pv)!malion. how happv rOI! I1msl bl? with vow- !!11- a.~e ';fnce VOl( ohtainelj a thou.';and times ~f'hat I Inn,'? fo hal'ej1fst once. A!though Perrarch \vas a maJor msplranon to the Ideals ofpoet!c idea! of beauty. the sixteenth century paimer came 10 Jevelop his own vision of iL T111;; Neo-?elrarchan
...... ". ,...... ii~ivvi"v~J iil(, r~il~h. .:rlng ()i a i~~)~ \:1TlUVUS \Vi.iil1Zln.
Sh~ n:ight pOSSe~S the noted quahtles of the pale. s:l1ooth skin. golden hair. high forehead and gently arched evehro\V~ .. but In many cases painters In Vemce were creatlllg dll'lerem compOSlilOrlS
the liJeai standards of Lama was phvslcallv am:l emotlOnaHv unapproachable i\(':cordm~
Jdeas In mmd.
In [he anisls' clrcle of GiorglOI1C, Tinan, falma \Teecnio, anu faris Boruone in
The fleshy interpretation of Petr:!fch' s: ide:;) beauty made the sitter me-!"e appr0achab~e~ 0!
-: Monord. Ivi.. LenarJon. K.J .. (iassicai IVlythoiogy. Longman. l"iew Y or!\.. 1';lID. I If -\ 10. in the story ofPy?malion. Venus wants life to a bealltiful.iifelike sculpture which Pygmaiion created. and rhen fails in love v:/!th. 1~"S the n1~!th ~ S tnlitL un the rnnst holy of the feast days of" \1 enus nn r'yprus. P:.tgrnal1on \.'-~~nii' l·r'J.YF~!in th::;t P-~.-(1ni;::dl()il _ •••• _, >--.'--'•. _--,;:: '----,- ~ .:.::::-~--+.-.-'~ ~'~-3.:' ;-c:S:rring tv ~hc i~"TCi~)" 3tat:'i': '.. ~v·hi.:-h he ::':'\-C;1 \:lnd ~!Dth;~d u:; 3. ~c(d T'r\'Crt~2tn~ .;r~D~cd ~h::. ~tatvc !~fc_ Th!2 hvu HhU i ,eu uau 1ttu.l u l~liHily. Koge!s. M ... ' i he UeCOl1lil1 o( Women s Beauty. I nssino. r irenzuola. Llligini and' the Kepresentatlon of Women m Sixtccnth-Ccntun' Pamti!l":'·. Rt>!1f1i\'wmct> Sfudies. Y 2. !1. L 1988. '\] Of the three writers discus~~ed b~"r l:tngers. TrissirH' T,uiglni and Firenzuo!a the diverse ideas exrre~~~;ed affinn th3t (If the vir-· ~~~l;;-'~'·~:"':':~'~~;:'.-)": 1~.••~1., ••~.~. :':'~Jl~.~.,';::11-~,;.~-~1.~::, \.~.'" ;.~'.-:::!u~i f\J \~."~~·!1~~\ c h~5ti ty ~'e~ gns ~t!p!·~·!T! e "... ..;:_~..: .' ", -'" '-' ~ .. ' .::~ -.:. _~ R.ogci's ;dctltin~'J rhi; phCi~OG1eaGi1 1;1 u pa.inti;!b by 1?~!I~ri.i T}H:;; Gld.sC I:; or~l j\,'u,je ;rUFlIlIJi ai ReI ',ruilel, jiB'; pall.ulu.\. ur the iHhlg4..: u::~iJ(;~ iu tilt; fd(";l diai. da: :lJtiCi po:,.st:SSt;:, ty plcat Petrardlall beauty. embodYIng lile dlec kitsl of tHt tYPical Pdrarcttan loeab 1 et tilt close prox imity of the viewer with the sitter. as we!! as the fact that the ladv is nude. adheres to the Neo-Petrachan represented mytho!oglcal tigures or specific IdeallzatIOns 'whIch were mampulatIOns of the real-life models.
1"'rissino) and Fedingo I~ ui;~;ini are authors '.:vhose \vork~ }')araHe! the painted fanta~ie5 and ideas offenlafe heaut)' as portra~/ed in fen1ale portraiture. '!-o sav that these nlen \vere writing illihe dassic Pelrarchan tradition is raise, although Pelrarch was deady an
Pe:tmrch
Agnolo hrenzuola' s work La dwio1!,o della helta donna IS a two-part boOk In
VvIUcli the Ilwin L:hal Ce!so hegms hIS answer wIth descnhmg nature and several dItIerent elements. (he dements arc ieggtudr ill (ciegance). llllleSII..l lm of arL beauty In women !s tonned from a certam harmony and order among parts. Hannony creates delight in the beholder and has lhe pm\'er to draw the mind to a desire " F!l eULuula~ /\.'} (}tt fhe I)i.·(Hi~\J (~l rV(Jrllc:n~ fir~)( pubiishiug, 1540. TnlH~la(ed & ~J by KOluad EistH bidlJer &. Jacqueline Murray.L of Pennsylvania. PhiiaddpJlJa. j l)l)2. jb-4J Cropper. 1:.. "On Beautiful Women, Pannagianino. Petrarchismo, and the Vernacular Stvle", Art Bul!e tin. ~R. 1976 379 Pe~rarchan In origin. The djfferent cotors of ljps;< correct \:\/a.ys of 'vearing hair and the proportions of the body, as we!! as the correct level offi:timess a woman's face should carry are addressed, It is quite remarkable IO see that F irenzuola very carefully and • " ,... I' ~. .'•. • ~loqucnt{y Inapp~a oui ihc SlxtCCllth-ccntury 115t ot CIC1l1cnts to maKe a ravlshlngiy Surprisingl)i~ after ha\ring been subjected to a certain aln_ount of mjsof=~./ny~ the reader of ra dll1logo encounters Firenzuola's Neo-Platonic views within Ceiso's diaiogue. one In the same thing, one and the same perfectIon, and vou must seek us and iove us, and we 1Hust~ed~ and luve, Yuu are IJuthmg \-vlihout u~, and we are nOihmg wlthullil yuu. ,., ,...... ' .,.,7f( tJur perreCTl0n IS In )~OU., ana your In 115. - woman depIcted In an Ideal torm of beauty. It seems as If TnssIno' s sublects are paInted as uistant acslnetil.: contemplations with no hint of erotil.: uesire. Trissino \'vTites of rea1- life nDblc\vorn\:ll, such as Isabella d~Este, V"ilO \vished for nothing lTIOre than a v~irtuous were exqUIsite artefacts. carefully crat!ed out of precious materials. Tnssino IS compares women of his mind's ideal of beauty to cold, hard substances such as ivory, alabaster, and , 1 on TJ' ...... "...... '"{ ~ . ; marble."" IllS \vomen bdOl1g on a pedestal cOilveYiilg a lottmess \Vhicll is compaWJie \\iitll F ederlngo Ijuiglnl \\'fote of a fen1ale ideal that lS 1:he op"pDsite of those in ·Tris~anofs Firenzuoia, A, On inc BeauI;Y. 21. ., Rogers, M, "The deconlm", 54. ~\l lhin 60 qualInes of the female fIgures. The subject of his vmtings concern the nude tema!e figure. LUlgml \vrme in an uninhibited fashion thaI discusses every pan of the femaie body. liis ... ",' .. .." .. 1'" . \,/1 ~ .. pros\: \"SS constructcd In a manner \vh1Ch spOKe 01 persons v.110 ,-,1(1 nOl CXISt.·., ycrnaps hi~ in1ages ofbeUllt}! are rnythologicaJ charactErs taken D:onl Classical tradition, represen1ed hy Trissino. LUlgini's writings on the heawty of women are the opporsne 01 hlflt:lnt denoHnee.m.ent for the need {)f ~uch aCGoutrelnenls J_ ulgin! t-hen pr(lceeds to state that women are most appropnate when not clothed at aU "" Luiglm s words are unrnlstakably for the world of the male fiuHasist. seen tor one purpose and one only: to be shown m the !lght of Ideal temmme beauty as originally described by Petrarch. Looking through the icnses of F ircnzuoia, Trissmo and y- • • • C" 1 11. t '.11 r- 11 1.1...... r"I1 ... t... 11 LUlglni, lernaje Dcauty \vas S110\Vn eJtl1cr rUB)' clotnca or unaresseG. :Jne lTIlgnt ua;;e LJeen the spectator and the subject c,fmen's fa!ltasies, or sr~e ITlay ha\re been a respected noblewoman. who wanted nothing more than to be vie\ved on a pedestal with her chastity X I RichteL JP.~ rhe J)r!er:..u:v 1110rks (~Il f.eOfuiarlio [1a l/inci, Phaldon. London~ 1970. 6iJ. The doctrine ~vhich is lV11tten tty Luigini CC'TICef111ng irn:-tges ()f ".rt)I'!~:e~ \vh() dCf !1et exist is a!sc, seen i!1 the adn!~f}ti()n cfthc foEcr\''''Y-,~r3 of Lconardc. L('·onGrGo speaks Qfth~ potent speir that a naturalist painting ~:an ,:ast l~pon a vieWC1. "Thc paintcl':' puwer uver men':, mind;, is t;;;\cn git;;;atcl [liHill the pod' ;,j, fur lit;;; ~an il1Ju~c thCHl..lO fali in love w.ith a picture which does not portray any living woman. it once happened to me that 1 made a picture representing a sacred subject which was bought by one who loved it ,md who then wished to re move the syrrlhols of divinity in order that he might kiss her \vithont misgivings" 32 R_(~ger~~ ';';The DeC()(Unl'; ~ 54 'lenus-~ th~ Greek g()ddess of physical lc"/e and beauty ('jrce is !he en charllrcss daughter Gf the Sa!l and aunt of anGthcr Greek enCila!lU"eSS, ~'1edca. )< , Roger s, ~L The De~OJUln", 61. ;. ibid .. bi-b2. Rogers speaks of a passage by. LUlgl1ll who aebates about the eiiectlveness 01 an adornea or unadorned woman. The resolution is in favor of the depiction of nudi!V in painting. Luig:ini even im p!ores the audience to make the female sitter in the painting nude in their minds if the suhject is clothed rel~.,,!ng as her greatest Y1rttie. Regardless~ linked try an ofth15 \vas the dte~lre to inspire the reade:r mto belIevmg that a woman of supreme beaU'~; eXIsted. As a resu It. that personification \vas conj ured lhrough paim and developed imo the prmorype of female . _.. ". ~...... ". portraIture. I he lucntlty 01 the sitter became ObSolete, glvl11g thC artIst l'llCCTISC to recaS1 the sitter into a personification of beauty not found in nature_ T'he ahun_dance of in1ages \vhich retl.ected ideal ft~lnale beauty poses a question: \\ias Ihe male viewer in the Renaissance looking for something more than a picture ora f~n:;jnirle b~~~ut)'? It IS peculiar that ther~ ca!.n:~ to IJC an al"!undanc~~ nf frontll feniale portrflits In the ~txteen1h centurJ \vhen In the fifteenJh century". ~l ennsidertlbh~ ~1m()Unt of lear was associate<.1 with the direct gaze of a woman. Although there were men spoutmg l\ clear descriptiofl of the fear Rnd pfun experienced ,:vhen falling t0r R bCHutlful woman lS seen m Petrarch. Numerous verses \vere wfltten ot the excmcJatmg pam he tel! in his inability to express his iov\,; for Laura.''' Petrar\,;h continually wameu his reauers of thc per.us oflo'v'c alid the pain vvhich one \vould inc""./itably infljct upon hJ:i11Sc~fifhe .... Pe[Tan.:h, F , For Love 01 Laura. Poytry of yelrareh Translmed by iviarill!1 Shore, tin 01 AIXanS(lS press, Fayetteville, 1987, 23. The following poem written by Petrarch in his Rime Spar~e is an excellent example of his inahiHty to express his love for L.aurg· ~x:r ~- _Ashame:/ so!nelifnes. rn}' la:.!}.'. that J .'dilt can~ ~jot e:r.l!r~-}-·<~· J;o!~r b€,-?uty i~] nf..-V rh.ytff€. r 1!~(p?d£r t(, t/?(tt 5,,"~.€q! '..?r!ti (bst,-?!"?t titnc ~,'hf!!'? )~.]!! (t!~)V!~ f.:rranted P{)~:'~T 0./;-;;,,"; ~ri!l 13:;{ ,--'~',--";; :i;\."rt."" f jli:..i :JL; j;uhhn; L)A.;lf. ;;(~ ~::~~"';:;;dl :'--~ ~ .... 't.7!\." I.:; i;'f...·;;;h: } t.'L!;;;:L;: \,. n:;:t~~ J!)r ~_ . ..1.! _ 1 _ r ~. L· ,1. '~_ ,_ " .r JI J_ ~______, __ : n .,!' _ 1~ , '" .~I/I.JI U IU,\/. uellJunu~ U JUI L;: .}uUlIlfIe, al tnlu.}C Ullempi i JUII oaLR, mll.}/ LUlU .HI/I. nUH ~/II!J/ au i !nun: my iIP,\ 105tJeuk andjlfld my I'()!ce Ite.s burted m n~v brea,\/ - bltl {iIen. what .\ollnd ctlulc1 ever n\e ,\0 !1if !n Flrenzuola's j,a j)iaiogo deifa helfa donna. Cdso gwes an ans\ver to a quesuon concerning what a man conceived \vhen he looked upon a beautiful woman, and \vouid happCl1 11 nc found h~r 10 be Df surpassing beauty: WIth hIS other half ;.met become complete once again. It IS mevitable ttmt she :;hou!d appear beautiful to us, and sine\! she appe:ars beautiful, it is 1n\~~y'itabl~ that \ve lo\le her_ hecause trlle lrfve_ accordlng to \vhat the entire !,.)!ato,nlst school clallHS, IS fiUtf1iHg dst: but a Ut:SlIC fll! beauty. Loving hef, illS in,evit3ble thf!t \ve should see~~ her out~ seeking he!, thEt lye shou!d find her; finding her, thai we should contempiale her: contempiating her. thaI we - •• ...... l' 1'" • ,,'" .. should rejoice in hcr; rCjOiC,lng in ncr, tHaI '\VC snou~a. rCCC1\'C ITnn1 ncr an jnCf)nJprehensible !1Ieasure. for pleasure is the end of all action because man is In constant search tor pleasure. and a beautiful woman IS what '.'1111 conJure SUe!1 pieasur~. Fir~nzuola's admittance of the eas~ of faUing III love, leads 10 a see hov.,r even a conJured inlage of a heautiful \1\.'01113n \vould in the end induce love and of! '* *- * '* ~ of: * ."-'" ,,~ 't' nortra11i -- -- - IS looks dIrectlv at the VIewer. Her appearance IS one 1 nssmo would possIblv approve I\t> 13L~tih.. h(ifJ., ll.i L~ i-\u~~ 8,:, Po~tly. 14 OU\; (;f }\;;L, I:U (.h .~ pvl.5fu;) \\ hu~.ll gl 'I.;a.tiy iitu;:}i~ .;l~~~ il..}\-~'::) d"Jlber~ j~ entliiea Sumuur nun e . <.:he dUf/que e quei ch'[() sen/v"!: ~! Ihls should nol be low:. U (IOd. what _,hakes fne:; It love !l is. what stral1xe, what nch de!l.!!ht. It love be .land. l1'hv has It f{ll1xS to bIte) ftcmel, whv \'0 \'~r~er !h ..~ born fhn! tn/au,; me? !f' /nve r ('r{fl'P lrf~v /hi~.; lanu;-'nf tl'Jat hre(;k~ nu~ ') /( nor 't~'h(J! :er:r';. nr ,\i('..;!r'-, ~:un .,,!:~~,.t:d !1'!•. r [-\/igh(} () ~!t":,,~'!h !'r! !:/i:; Je:.:rI}['lin, :!'h::r~ !i::.~' ."!::r rr:i(~~hf [rl.~!.-/!f-\r.: fhf.: d:'"}!H!'! !hf.!! f}~'e,r~ t:,Jke.·.; iiit5-} ~lI C:{jii.,'c,;·ili, "ti·lthviif u (:,,"iii.)'r.;' I ~(·ft..:~~·t.,;': S~) iii l,.,1 It::;ur;t;".'il c:.k; iiiJ''/;';rfuiiCS /ir:;·LTt:e. h.Y ifiiii,ls· l.t;nt;'ul)· aJ/d br i1 aiel's [OM, so, in a Siupor, hke a blind mail 10,)1 in mischievuus error, lured /rom riouj){ TO doubl. June freezes . .fanuary thaws me OUl. ~Ausiander) o Firenzuola ..A, .. QJ11JJ.e..!?~,?'lJ.t:L ! 8-! 9 Depleted her m a posed position while holding a stylus she possesses flawless alabaster skin, cameiian lips, and goiden tresses. The pen she holds in her right hand imimates lhal .. .. ~. ~.... . ~. . . She 15 an c\lucatC(1 vvornan 01 letters. 11115 gives ncr all alr 01 ChaSleness al1u v1rtue upon first glance. 'let there are certain pecu1iarit!es yvith Palnla'~ J.ll '(!f!?(fll i"fl !flue. In comparison with other traditional frontai female portraits, there are elements which make Palma's siner more aliuring than a portrait such as Bronzino' s depiction of Laura n:l0re fOf:nal prescntat!O~L She sits \vith statuescfue postun: and an intilr;idating air" at! the \vhlle hotdl:ng n hook of'poetry in her hand t(} represent a c.hjll~{ Ideahzat'ion ofa v"irtlJ(1US woman of the aristocracy'" I nssmo would be very pleased with th1s (ieplctlOn of LU\Jren<.1 ral1cli:ltidll, fLll she 1::> u reple::iClltatlOIl of a beautlful anu dnt::>k: woman. In the regards to the J!;/ornan ill 131:Jc, the sitter IS :J clear example Df r'irenzuo:a ~ s have been bound upon her head beneath a vet!, snood, or turban.. ;" falls otr or her shoulders. This depiction of a woman in a portrail docs not con[onll 10 the appropriate L.aUTa \vears her hair loose, -\vhich '\vould ha,Je been seen .as a mod_est act of ,behavior, mdicating t'O the men that she was unavailable."l This would have also muted the erotic impact of the flowing locks of hair. It was knovvn lhat heads were kepI covered to keep "! • • ... J"' n' .. 1 .. ~ ...... ' 1 •. 1 ...... deSire HI ch~;;c~. '1 1- ainlU' s tauy ,,"vears lier golden locks Iii ioose braiuS \\'iliCl1 t10\\/ dO\\'11 "Brock, M., lJronzlilO. Flammarion, 2002, '14-95. Brock speaks Oll the portrait ot pOt:tess Laura Bamtern with whom Bronzmo had a Platonic reiationship He clearly demonstrated his respect and esteem for Laura in this portrait, "~Jhich qhovv'~ her holdlng a book of prc/:;c nnd depict"; her in a pose \-'lhirh h;"rk~n5 to 1.1 prof'!!e ~:kett:h of D~nte B;"ODZ!!1() c;-e'..'.' in 1532. g~ Rogers, Dc'2,orull1, 62. Luigini, F., Ii iibro neiia bciia donna Vcnicc, 1554; Engiish Iransiatiol1, ci'.L Lang, The Book of Fair Women by Federigo Luigini of Udine', London/New vork. 1907.232. VI Rogers.!\.1 771C f}ecorum. 62 3j her back~ loose- hair cast a great deal oftenslOn upon the Renaissance woman. The response to the slght of golden tresses mmbiing loose, cast an erotic spell, and connected the image with the aHu.llng.-. goclUesses., all'd'" SIrens trom pagan anl1qUlt}". . ,., to I Auigini;s ideals of beauty to an. e\len greater degree than the H!Olnan In l3lue. It coquettIsh look upon the sitter s rosy lips tens the viewer that she is looking to he admired fo!" her luveiin..::ss. H..::r iow neckiine adorned vvith a vi\iict, her name, and her abunuatlt gulden flait v/ilich flov·,/s do\vn her back, LS a iecol11fnciH.1ation of the ideals of henutv posited hv- LlJlg1nl VIOlante s dress IS exqt!ls1te, that of a woman of means, but this IS not a dePletIOn of a nobk woman \vhu I" stnvlllg tu keep hel vH1ue mtw:L The PUSltlUH With Whll.:h r.'-t .,' .< 11 1-"1:.'1 ~ +h.:-~ ~vl"iolante IS sitting creates a very Intimate situation. inc lDtImacy" suggesrca U) tU~ com_position and the position of the sitter creates an arena for her bosoro to be ogl~~d by ~ vlewmg audIence. rhe SItter appears to be rutty aware of thIS Jact and seems to revel In the idea that she is 1:he prime subject ufthe viewer's gaze.'" It is clear that Pallna \lecchio \vas an artist \vho falls into the Italian Renaissanc.e circle clf artists ,~/ho stro·Ve to !jepict a id.eall~/ t~eautifuJ V~lon1an acc()rdlng te, th_e provocations from the poetry of the time. The Petrarchan idea! of beauty. which became a cultural ideal f()r men and women alike, was dearly followed within Palma's compositions IVafJitlil iii lii U(;' and Vialuilte. Like his affluent contemporary, Titian, he apl1ears to have e~~ccuted i11allY of the paitl!i~ngs for t11e pleas·ure of the \v~:alt}1Y Bien of V"enlce. \~lhether or not these anonvnl0US portr3its of11eautjful \v{)n1en \,,'ere ~:n t3Ct ..... rvIellencaJnp, E.H .. , r~/\ Nute on the ·CostUfn~ of Titian ~ s Fiora~~~ .,11 t Blilletitl~ \:. 51 June 'L9G9~ ] 74-77. Rogers.lVL i he lJecorum. 54. Rogers introduced thi~, idea III iight of the painting <:ntitled ~. lOialllt! which she attributes to Titian. Since the publication of this article in 1988, there was a change in attribu tion trnm it having been p:linted hy "ritian to heing the '~vork of Paln13 Vecchio )"\ '::1,/.. There is a need for further examination into the social ideals and demands on women at the tlme. The manner Wlth wh1ch women were expected to appear depended greatly on the art and poetry produced. Although present scholarship has made great strides in \vomcn's studies during the Renaissance, there are still many pressing questions. Clearly the effects from the coupling of painting and poetry upon the fairer sex ,"vas elemental. It not only affected the ways in which women were viewed by outside audiences, but how the sixteenth-century woman viewed herseif 33 CHAPTER TTl THE COURTESAN IN THE PAINTINGS OF PALMA VECCHiO Tht: courtesan in sixteenth-century haiy was the most educated and independent woman in the world.94 She was used in many v,lays by the most powerful men in societ:'i as a devoted lover, confidant, counsel, and fri.:nd. It ""'lac;; because of this that the \"{omen who successfully practiced the profession of courtesan acquired a high rank in Rome and Venice. Courtesans played an impOitant role in pieces of Renaissance society. They \Vefe acquire financial and SOCial independence Several of the courtesans in Italy, partIcularly in Venice, became pubiished -poets as well as toois for .poiitical and diplomatic affairs. In the world oftlle visual arts the courtesan appears as helselt~ as well as in tht; O. Franc(\ v ... POf!!t1S and ;"'elected Letter~ The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 199R, ". It is said that in \'ellice, fc\ver than four percent of\voJnen had access to an education. ten to n,--.,"eIv"e percent of Vendian ..>,umen were litelate, with an avelage of til illY peiC-eHt of men weIe liteJate. V/ith thi!> al) a lom man average, and knowing that in order to be among the ranks of the Honest CowtesaJl, one needed to be versed in sev<:rallanguages including Latin, as well as versed in the poetry of the day. It is dear that a Ve netian courtesan was among the most educated of persons in Italy 3-1 simply p<.lltraits of courtesans.'i5 This is a fair assumption, but there needs to be an ex- ammatlon mto who the women ,,,,ere WhICh captured the Imagmatlons and hearts of the powerfui men of sixteenth-century Rome and Venice. One of the most famous COUt-tesans was the poetess Veronica franco. She made strides to establish a important status a..f1d respectability for the role of the Honest Cour- tesan, the highest rank of the profession in Venice. She possessed beauty. "grace, wit in conversation, and style, good judgment, and proficiency in many skiJis"~)£· elements that would distinguish the Honest Courtesan from the lower-ranked prostitute in Venice. The Honest Courtesan attempted to establishing herself as a respectable member of society and to ease the harsh and blatant hatred that 'vas common towards the profession and the women who chose to practice it97 Thomas Cory at, an Englishman who journeyed to Venice in 1608 to survey ib legendary sights and women, wrote oftlle Honest Courtesan. notes that shee warbles out upon her lute. which shee fingers with as laudable a stroke as many men that are excellent professors in the noble sClcnce of musicke; and partly with that heart-tempting harmony of her voice. Also thou wilt finde the Venetian Courtezan (if she be a selected woman indeede) a good P~~etorician~ and a most elegant discourser~ so that if shee ,; Rylands, l'aima Vecchio. 89 Rylands mentions that m an mventory of Paimas studIO upon hIS death, a painting \-vas listed which referred to the sitter in the portrait as 'I retrato de fa car. a con cave1j butadj su II;': "pale et Vl;':stioll de verne ml;':za f;;jeta de eil hmza I' Thp reference of someone in Renai",ancl;': Vpnil.'p as 'car.a' \,\'as an abbre'viaticn for cQramJJana:- a name given to Venetian prostitutes \vho ,"vere required by hl\V to Ii Ve in the area of Ca' Rampani in the parish of San Ca5siano in 1421. Clearly the aS5umption by art historians that many of the sitters in the more provocative female portraits produced in the sixteenth cen tury as being prostitutes or c.ourtesans is a correct one ""Franco. Poems. 12. Veronica Franco uses this list of Qualifications for becoming a Cortigiana Onesta in a Jetter to a li!dy friend who consults Veronici! on pimpin'g her dl!l!ghter t~~r the profession ot~ courtesan In cidentally, Franco gives a reply to the mother \vhich is surprising to scholars. She dissuades the mother ffom fOf~ing hef daughter into the profe:;,:;,ion. Veroni~a l>tre~:;'e:;' the ri:;,b d:'.~O\;latcd with the pfOfe:-".:>tol1 of courtesan, such as diseases and poverty, as weii as a certain ievei of financial uncertainty, which ie.ad, in many cases, to destitution and homelessness for the women who pursued the profession. ,,, Franco. V .. Poems and ,,>elected Letters. Ann Rosalind Jones & Margaret F. Rosenthal. eds., The Uni vers!ty 0fCh;icago Press, ChicagoJO An illustration of wit and morality demonstrated by Veronica Franco is evident in a letter \'v'hich she \\-Tote to a friend. \leronica, at one time., had given advice en how to face adversity. In reciprocatioH of the advice given, Franco uses ht:l exempialY behaviol i.wd ability as a letter writer to demonstrate that aithough she held the occupation of a CDurtesan, she did not possess the disposition of the typical greedy, immoral prostitute. Equally important is how this letter must have made her to appear to an outside audience cannot move thee ,vith all these foresaid delights, shee wil! assay thy constancy with her RhetoricaH tongue:'~~ W"ha1 were the heliefs of a woman who was attempting to make the profession of courtesan legItImate? ThIs IS a pOIgnant questIOn partIcularly when long-held tradItIons concerning a women's piacc were spouted by sociai commentators such as Ludovic"o Venice: " ... But in a woman one docs not look for protound eloquence or subtle intelligence, or exquisite prudence, or talent for living, or administration of the republic or justice, or anything else except chastity'''''' l\side frOITt the sexist dictates heav~d upon \vomen in sixteenth-century \!enice~ a trou- hling matter concerning the courtesan in Venetian society was her autonomy and inde- pendence. qualities- whIch appeared- -" as blatantly as did her overt sexuality..- In a novella by Francesco Pona eniilkd La lucerna, he describes the freedom expcrien<.:cd by <.:ourks "fn~edom is the most precious gem a courtesan possesses and contains \vithin itself everything she desires. Given the privilege, even infamy seems honorable 10 heL Since she is not sut~it:d 1(, the tyranny of husbands (Ii parents, she can deliver herself to her lovers without fear of being killed for reasons of honor. In this way she is free to express natural appetites and feminine lasciviousness. "l()() Around the beginning of the sixteenth century approximately 10,000 COllrtesans powerful men were patrons to conrtesans The women who gave pleasure and (':ompan- "X Coryat, T., COITat:" Crudities. Scolar Press, 1978,267. Rosenthal uses this passage in her Honesf Courtesan. 73. Brown, P.F., Art and Lit'f! in R>!naissancf! ~·f!nic>!. Abrams, New York, 1007, 157. ;(18 Pona, F"~ La luccrna. SaJerno, Rorna, 1073, 109. "" BIOWlJ, Art utld U/<:. 157. BIUWll lllakt::~ t!Ji~ statrnent with('ul iiny ~Ub:)tiintiilllluk on the WUICI: otl!l:l than best estimates. This statistic must have taken ill the women who were in all walks of life. it must include the women who were the respectable Honest Courtesans, to the individuals who periodically prac ticed prostituion to make financial ends )K _.'t.l ionship at a very high price, lived unimaginably sumptuous lives thanks to the patronage of then wealthy and powertul clientele. There IS evidence of the liaisons between the powerful men of Europe with the courtesan in the visual arts of Renaissance Italy. Agostino Chigi was a banker to kings and popes and a great patron ofthe arts and letters. He was also one of tl-te wealthiest ma.l1 in Europe and he adored beautiful cou.rte- sans. Wl Chigi was famous for his sumptuous dinner parties in his Roman villa which hugged the Tiber river. He commissioned master draftsman and the painter Raphael to design a decorative scheme in his Villa farnesina \vhich celebrated the love between him~ was completed hecause ofa Roman courtesan. lIM From the partnership of patron and art- ist, as well as patron and courtesan, the world received the iegendary Famesina frest'.Oes. Tilt; fre~(;Oe~ depict the two lovers, Chigi and imperia, seated at their nlaiTiage banquet accompanied by a joyous celebration \vith the gods. From this commission also came the i~!mous Gala/ell Fresco which depicts the sea nymph driving her chariot Hl5 Further examples of the powerful men who patromzed the courtesans of Rome are julius II, who entertained the famous courtesan ivlasina before his succession to the pa- retaries to popes, held garden parties and gave suppers to which ma.ny courtesans were invited.")! The opulent evenings designed to entertain the famous courtesans of Rome with their a.doring patrons as host is described by Lawner: j(" Th;" 17 .L~·1.U>1 _, ( 1 f,>, TL ~ _J "...., lUlU., .) I. :0" Hartt, F., HislOt}' ofltaiian Renaissance Art: Paul/iug. ~(:ltipllfre, Archilecllire. Prentice HaH & Abrams, New York, 1994,528. 105 Hartt, HistOlY. 530. According to Hartt, Raphael had no intention of depicting the courtesun Imperia as Galatea. Lawner c()t1tends that Imperia was depicted by Raphael as Galatea driving her chariot. It is also assumed that Chigi and Imperia are sho\\TI at their \vedding feast ,,~vith the gods in attendance~ as scm in the ;'Veading BUfi!.Juet/rum the LogXia IJ"Cupia and Psyche, nom the school of Raphad. See Lawnef, Lives. 37. 'lio Lawner,L., Lives qlthe Courtesans. Rizzoli, New York, 1987,35. '" Ibid .. 36 )'7 -' / "When not promoting their careers, these men spent their time "'Titing nostaigic Latin verses and imagining that they were still hving in the time of the Circus !\'1aximus~ the F orum~ and the formidable llcttlCra of old. "'~t08 In Venice, an important reiationship between a powerful man and a c.()urtesan ex- lsted betvv"ccn Domenico Verncr and courtesan Vcronica Franco. Venier 1~Vas a former Vc- netiarl senator alld member of a distinguished patriciall family in Venice. l(1) He was a.ll in- fluential personality in Venice who counseled, supported, and published the works of fe- maie writers and poets such as Tullia Aragona and Moderata Fonte, as wdl as Veronica Franco.ito Franco, described as a sixteenth-century Diotima,lll was an intellectual courte- san \vho \vas also a socially conscious poetess \vho \Vfl)te numerous verses of prose on many subjects How Franco came to be in the counsel of Domenico is not known, but their reiationship lasted for a decade. 112 Through their ten-year relationship, Veronica was honored with tht: freedom to grace the threshold of Venier's literary salon in Vt:nice, tht: Veronica Franco is one of the most famous of courtesans from the sixteenth cen- tury. She was not only famous for her clIentele, ii4 but was acutely aware that her sex was greatiy mistreated. Veronica's strides towards achieving respect and high social status for 108 Ibid., 16 itl'l Franco" j-'ocins .1. !!~ Lawner. Lives. 57. ::, Ibid., 127 Diotima was a woman from Greek myth who is said to have had a long conversation Voith Socrates on the true natures of Eros. Diotima is sketched as a very intelligent woman who convinces the great and wise Socrates that Eros is not good or beautiful, nor bad and ugly, but in nature lies somewhere bct\veen the tl.vo. See !\1orford and Lenardon's book on Classical ~.1ythology, 3rd ed., 133-136. j " Rvseuthal, M., ]}je H{Jile:,1. C't,W"iei.LIii, Veronit.a Filitkl1 CiILelll.liid Writer iii Sixieenlh..( 'erlilliY fe-i/ ice. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 89. 'u Franco, Poems. 5. Domenico Venier was a patron to other women writers besides Veronica Franco. He sponsored and published works from Tullia d' Aragona and Moderata Fonte. Venier's salon boasted members who were the elite of Venice. She frequently requested sonnets a..l1d poems to commemorate members of the \ieneti(L~ elite, such as Estore rv'Iatincngo, a n1ilitary hero \vho died;n 1575. "" LawlIel, Live,\, 58, In lh~ SUllllner of 1574 Venice was visited by HerllY of Valois, who was tJavding to Poland to be crowned Kind Henry m of France. Wl1iJe in Venice, HenlY visited Franco's boudoir. Af ter his departure, Veronica presented him with a miniature portrait of herself, along with love poetry ad dressed to him 38 the "tatus of her profession are apparent in her attempts to legitimi:ze the profession of Honest Courtesan.'io Veronica established herse1fwithm the hIgh socIety m Venice made predominately of men. Some of these strides are evident in her patronage of the wealthy Veronica's prof,Tfess for respect in her profession is evident in her poetry \vhich speaks in a defiant manner, that communicates awareness and sympathy for the tairer sex.,!;' She repeatedly defended herseifagainst the misogyny that haunted the minds of even the most enthusiastic Iiumanists. Veronica's literary \vorks express an open sexual- ity and eroticism that had never been seen before in the poetry orher sister poets and !!5 Rosenthal; the Honest. 77 One of Veronica's v.'ills states t.!Jat she \vished for capital from her invest i11ents to be given (if her 111otl1er \i\;as deceased) to the dO\~TY ba1!oting systenl of the slx guardians of the Scuoie Grandi. TIle dowry baiiOIing sysrem enabied funds to be available for members who could nm af ford a substantial dowry tor theIr daughter. rile increasing pnce of the dowry was a slgmtlcant proNem In Venice The cost of an acceptable dowry rose to such great heights that very few Venetian families could afford. to - resoectflll1vl - ." marrv_, their d;nwhters,-' _. into an(!ther f.qmilv_, This then forced- t·wo choice.;; noon;: the daughters of \T enice' to becon1e a courtesan or to enter a convent. ito {'rane.o, [toerilS. 32. A \vonderrul ~.xarnple Of\,'efonica?g charni is evid~nt in a friendly invitation to an inrunnal meal at her house: Among the many favors I could receive through your kindness, the best of a11 will be that you do me the favor of enjoying some pleasant conversanon today, along with your friend. who will be very eager to come. YOli see how this rainy weather invites all good folk to settle down in side by the fire" at least until evening If you're willing to come" we can partake in TTIlJwa! cOnJfort" ~ine jilco e! caeritnoniis rnore rnainrurn [\vithout pOn1? and c.erernony ~ in the 111anner of our ancestorsl. of whatever food there'll be. And if you'd be 50 kind as to add a little flask ofiliat good malmSey OfYOUfS, r am content and ask nothing more. Tnis evening, then, fn obey your order, a deiight to me, to go to your friend's house. And whatever you choose to do, tor my part, I'll always behave most lovingly toward vouJ~< 11" Franco, Puems, 245-256 In her Tcr::a Wma , Capitolo 24, Veronica defends a woman who has been insulted by a lnan. Her \vords are quick to strike at rnale \ve.aknesses, and asserts that \vomcn \vould be su perior to lUen if giVell the ~hance " ... L,)ok with the e)e5 of your good Sen5e and ~ 1'0( ) OUI5df how un worthy of you it is to insult and injure women. Unfortunate sex, always led about by cruel fonune. be cause YOli are always subjected and without freedom! But this is certainly been no fault of ours, because, if we are not as strong as men. like men \ve have a mind and intellect And virtue does not lie in bodily strength but in the vigor of the soul and mincL through ,which all things come to be known. and I am Cf;:f tain that in th~s respect v·:orncn lack nothing., but., rather, have given rnon: than one sign of'being greater thall ll1ell. But. if you think u:s inferiur to you, petllaps it':s because in mode5lY and wi:sdulll We ale liWlt~ adept and better than you .. And so we women, who are wiser than you, to avoid contention, carry you on our backs as the surest of foot carry those prone to tall. But most men do wrong in this matter; and woman, to avoid pursuing wrongdoing. adapts and endures being a vassal." 39 \,vTiter, ll& Furthermore, Veronica acquired a certain respectability within the noble circles of Venice. She did so by utilIzing her abilities to compose wann and courteous letters to not only friends, bUi prospective lovers. "" These were some of the stratcgic actions takcn through her carecr as Vcnice's Honest CO!.L.rtesan. They ,,\Tere actions t.hat constituted a level of respect for the protes- sion. further enabling the courtesan to move in high society. '* 118[bid., 60.. The following excerpt is from Franco's Ter=a Rima, Capitulu II ·verses 149-178. Some of these ~xcerpt5 are also used in rv1ai}~ Rogers' article ~'Fashioning Jdentities For the Renaissance CDllrte san", Fa..<;hioning Identifies in Renaissance Art. Ashgare, 2000, 97. Veronica. assens a frankly erotic iden tity WIth Venus In the toi!o\'v1ng excerpts from one of her poems: "Sweetly lying at your left SIde, J will make you taste the delights of love when they have been expertly learned; And doing this. 1 could give you such pleasure that you could say you were ftilly content. and at once fall more deeply in love So sweet and delicious do I become, ;vhen I am in bed \\rith a man \vho~ I sense~ loves and enjoys me, that the pleasure 1 bring excels all delight, so the knot of love, hovvever tight it seeiT~ed before, is tied tighter still. Phoebus, who serves the goddess of iove, and obtains from her as a sweer reward what blesses him far more than being a god, comes from her to reveal to mind the positions Venus assumes With hun when she holds him in sweet embraces: so that 1. well taught in such matters, know how to perfonn so weli in bed that thl'; lirt exceed, Apollo'" by tar, and my <;inging and writing ilre both forgotten hy the man who expe riences me 1n this \vay., \vhicn \Tenus reveals to people \vho serve her If your soulls vanquished hy 10\1;; t~)r n1e, arrange to have me in far s\veeter fashion than anything my pen can decJare '{our valor is the steadfast knot that can pull me to your iap, joined to you more tightly than a nail in hard wood; your skiii can make you master of my life, for which you show so much Jove - that skill that miraculously stands out in vou." [[,) Franco, Pf)(!m'\. 32 In a letter to a young man,Veronka educates him on the fact that intellectuals '"\lin her affecrioll t She cites Socrates frcn1 The Sj11111JOsfufH. \\:hi!e also flattering the yeung man and building his ego, so to make herselflook gracious and betitting respect Veronica's ability to mak..:: hersdf appear gracious whiie aiso easing egos of the men who surrounded her is a characteristic which wouid have pi aced her in the inH,rests of the noble men of Venice She never appeared to slight a man without good reason .. but turning to instead to our subject ofiove. there's no doubt that it acts as a stimulus in us, Which, depending on how it's shaped by our feelings. is the source of opposite things .. And for this rea son .. the \-vise Ulan said that to assernble an arU1Y that \vould be undefCc:'1ted nnd al\vays victorious~ it should be made up of men who respect loving and being loved by each otheL.And you ~now full weli tliid of all the men who count on being abie to win my iove, the ones dearest to me are those who work in the prac tice of the liberal arts and disciplines, of which I am so fond. And it's with great deiight that l talk with those who know. so as to have further chances to learn. for if my fate allowed. Ii would happily spend my entire life and pass all my time in the academies of talented men This could be a great advantage to you, being industrj~ous, as you are~ in fine vlTiting 3-.tY}d in the flo\.ver of your youth, \vhich ~f you nourisb 3..J~d cultivate it wdl, will bear fmil to your perpetual pla1:"e and fame ill th~ opinioll of every ·",iSoe and exp~li enced person. Take advantage of these capacities, attend to yow· studies,and by living a settled life in the tranquility of study and showing me the profIt you gain from honest leaming rat11er than any of the world's goods. you could lead me to love and cherish YOl!o The ancient Greeks used the term he1mrOl, or the Latin version helaera/~lJ "vhirh encompassed the protesslOll of the ongma! courtesan, dating to the tcmrth century, RC ,..', iiewerue were unwed women \vho were sexuai partners to wealthy and powerllli men.'" KnovvTI to be intelligent, savvy companions, they were capable of being everything a common prostitute was not. Hetaeras ,vere known to perfoffil privately as entertainer::; and were lively conversationalists who graced dinner parties of wealthy and powerful men in anciient Greece. ,2} in ancient Athens, as in Venice, different ievels of prostitutes existed \vhich denoted different levels of prostitute. All women ..vho lived the lifestyle of is known that in c1ao;;sical theater the hetaerae were identified as fictive characters who were part goddess, part human being. This classical model, which pi aced the hclearae into the gui::.t of rnyHwlogical figwe, in~pired ani::.ts and \""riter~ oftht;; iialian Renai~~ali(x. titudc towards the courtC'san The guise of mythological goddess, temptress, or nymph, was common for the courtesan In sIxteenth-century paIntIngs. She was Illustrated in the visual alis, and in stories from antiquity which involved the beautifui and sometimes rfoubles{)lne goddesses of classical lnyth{)]ogy. 1:'0 ~vlcClure L.~1 ~ C"ourresans af T:.Jblc: C;en:ler anti (;r:!:..~k rJ!:!ratflr~J in Athcftaeus. Routledge., Ne\v ~{orh~ 200~~ \}. \1.cC"lUf(; explains in Hit:: irHH)duc1ion that she used l."atiniL'cd version of (Jreek ijlJ~5 and names. The Greek piural for prostitute is hetairai. 1 will be using the Latinized piural iJelaerae (ilelem is slfl!,'ular) ," Ibid .. 1. ,:: http://\Iy;\v\v,bookragscomlhiography!Aspasia( Biography (?tA'll{lsfa The second wife of the emperor and general Pericles \vas .t'\:;pasia., courtesan of non-~i\thenian birth. l\spasia \vas born into a literate fa.mily in Miletll, th~ :>vutheffanc,st Ionian (ity dnd greal..::;t mdropolis in Asia Millui Sh..: weh th..: 1.!e"ClkJ wife of Pericies, who drew schoiars, artists, scientists statesmen. and inteiiectuais to discuss current events, iit erature. and philosophy. It was said that Pericles trusted her advice more than any of his political advisors. to; McClure L.1\1., Courtesans at Tahle. 108. ie, McClure, l 'ourteswl\· 1" The Greek term f10rne ',6ginally denoted a brothel sla"e and i, often distin guished fron~ the hetairai by the nutnber and anonyrnity of her partners .. as \eveH as by the fact that she cuuld /lul dlU-u::,;: ite1 J)aJlJ1el~. III illl: iltin.l ,-'elllUJ y B.C i:l JistimAiull;' WI:IC wadI: veiwtXlI tlte PUIlIt' i.wJ the hetaira. The cultured courtesan, in both ancient Athens and in Renaissance Venice. possessed the free dom to choose her partJ1ers. There was a distinct ditference between the levels of prostitute in ancient Ath ens. which was transferred to the Renaissance version of the courtesan. particularly in Venice. II -tJ Flora was, according to classical mythology, the goddess of flowering and ripening of grain vmes. In the Ovid, she IS the companion ofZephyrus the West Wmd who, after a violent abduction, gave her a garden fiiied with flowers. '" Fabricating Flora into a harlot came about in Roman antlquityL~" The name of the Roman goddess who makes all things grow, was used by several great artists of the itahan Renaissance. Palma's Flora ( Fig. (2) is widely acclaimed as being one of the most e1e- gant and beautiful of depictions of Flora One needs to ask, in reference to J>a]ma's J~loraf did he wish for the viewer to see the sitter as riora the courtesan or Flora the goddess? WIth her blonde tresses falling freely over her bared shoulders, her entire ap:pearance is a persona! invitation for the viewer to taste her delights. The sma!! bouquet she holds is the only indication of a representation of the illustrious goddess. The direct gaze of the blonde beauty is an indication of the sitter's chosen profession, as weB as the bared breast which is shown particular attention hy the hlue rihhon loosely draped heneath it The de- this is not a simpie personification of Nora, but a \voman who chose such a guise tor her profession as courtesan. J25 !v1crford .. P.O. F.:., Lenardon, RJ., Classi(:a! :~'!;'!hulot;:;', 3r.d eriiriot!. LOGgm~n. London, -i73. 1:'6 I-It1d. J.S., ~;;FI01d~ G0dde~6. and COlift~~an", l;,j.){ty.'io Iff f{(JjjOi (jj'l:,~r~l~iij rlHi{)j~~k). fviiUarJ }\fei~~, 1Cd ... vol. L New 'fork University Press, 196L 109. Held uses the reference to Flora from Boccaccio's Gene alof?ie Deorum (Jenliiillm Libri. BoccacclO receIved the II1SpIratlOfl for making Flora II1to a harlot when reading about a Roman prostimte who, in her wilL left money for games to be held in her honor upon her rlellth Naturally, thi" Roman Senate wa" Ilppal1ed hy thi<: qct of phililnthr0I'Y in the hqnd<: and Ililme of a hadct. /\ tll3.:tl n.3.!ned L3.ctantius !s said to have reco:rded the $harne fe!t by the P""crnan s~enate upon learn iug vf the prc..:;eeJio,1;s of the prostitute flvlii. :: lvleHencamp, E.H.,'A Note on the Cosmme of Titian's Flora", The An Buiiewl, v _ 5 i t)une i 9(9), 174. The camicia was a full-length garment which was always sleeved, and always tell from the: neckline. It was thought to be the apparel of the wedding night -rLI' the viewer, R~ the ~itter doe~ in PRlma'~ ('ompo~ition Although she i~ H phenomenal she is srriving to retain her modesI)'. A blaIant advenisemenr of her easiness is not evi- dent as in Palma's hlora. paint, docs Hut glam;c dircdly at thc vicwci cithcl, as ill Titian's compositiuH. Sitting in an arcllltectw'al settmg. Flora holds loose tlower petals In her nght hand. mdlcatmg her identity. A.n almost indifferent look upon the sitter's face expresses a sactTless and a long- ing to be dse-.vhcrc. Dordone's display is compktcJy ditTerent from the arousing image on Paima's canvas. Paima's Flora exudes an open eroticism which is not seen in either t 1naintinr -- . i;.,;".'hv Titian-" or- Rordonc_. "-- canvas, yet their expressions do not entice rhe viewer to connect in an mtimate manner as we see in Palma's Nora. mylhoiogil..:ui dlara<.:kr givcH tll\;; plOfl:ssion ofcourtcsan. Her union wiihJupih.a, whu seduced her III gUIse of a swan, places a woman m the throws ot passIon With a non-hu- man character. In the visual arts the union between a W0!11an and the syvan have been de- picted in \v,ays "\vhieh arc not onJy as erotic but disturbing, as seen in Raimondi's cngrav- ing of the myth. iF ig. 16) -13 Vemnf',<,,:" depiction ofTeda Rnd the Swan (Fig 1'::;) ,et, the encounter in (In lions to pn::~sent Leda as a courtesan. Lawner suggests That Surely Leda knows that her unusual partner is, in reality: a royal guest. Leda appears in control of the situation so the ...-r-f (""'_ 1-"L _ _. t".<.-1 . .' ___ • _.1 1'. 1 _ C. 11 _ _ __ .,1 .• __ f .' _ 1, Ull: HlSl UO!:>CIVCI ui lIle pallltmg wuuw uavl;: OCl:lI WHy aWaIl: Ulal SU~lI a UlIIUH, um: 0\..:- tween a beauntul woman and a royal deny. housed contemporary connections. It \vas no secret that the courtesans '~fho moved within the most powerful social cirdes, entertained the ,vealthiest of merchants, statesmen, and in the case of VeronIca franco, roY,:ilty. Leda, the beautifui woman seduced by a deity disguised as a swan on the Euphrates Rlver duced by any number of po\verful men. Danae is a very common figure from ciassicai mythoiogy who is depicted quite frequently in the Renaissance. Painted many times by Titian for Philip II of Spain, Danae the slury ur a v irgin who was ::.euuced by Zeus di::.guis~d a::. & ShOWt::l ur guid. A kvd ul amblgUlty m the stOry dwells 111 the questlOn of whether or not Danae gave herseltwlll- ing!y to Zeus. Was she tempted by the sight of the gold dust whkh feI! from the heav- ens? The ans\ver to this question was duly illustrated l1umervus \vays by Venetian art- ists. ,", Lawner. Lives. 106. ,.,.It An examnleI -- of a "eries of naintinlY"J -- u hv'''; Titian. ? fF'\ i2U 17),/ which- all denict,-' the mo-- mcnt V,,!hCrll Zeus visits her in the shov-v'cr of gold, could be vlc\vcd as an outline f(Jf the progression of the Danae from an innocent virgin who was iocked away by her paranoid father, into Danae, the venal, insidious woman who sold her virginity for a shower of gold showel to i:eign down upon her, SUdi as the painting by Gossamer. The opposite ~iJt:: of the spectrum In the deplctJOn of the Danae myth IS duly Illustrated by GmlJO Bonasone. who left nfothing to the imagination in his engraved depictirm of the moment bef.Dre t.l)e univn.(Fig. 18) Venus is perhaps the most common and well-known of the mythoiogical charac- krs in the guis.: of the sixteenth-ceillm} COUI ksan. She j:, rendered hWldied:'. of times as the-- -- .1noc;jtion - -- of cOllrtcc;an- _. a"-- \'\lritten- - hv.,! Roccacc1o------in hi"-" Fll/non>-- - Women Tn. Rocc(1ccio'" eyes, Venus was the daughter ottwo mortals w1th no known royal imeage. She was snn- piy piaced upon a pedestai fm her oubtanding beauty 10" of which Boccacclo ::.peaks~ Indeed, Venus radiated such beauty in her face and her entire body that often those who saw her eouid hardly believe it. Some said that she was [he v;~ry star \rve cal! \7 enus. Others believed tl-tat she \vas a cele.stial being \vho had tllJlen to earth from the lap of Jupiter. "" The unrequited beauty of Venus did not keep her from the shame of two husbands Boc- cacclo claimed that through her shame she "deVIsed somethmg that was abommably tout Venus was the first, so they say, to esrabiish public prostilUtion by setting up brothels UY Boccaccio, rl.lfiWIIS. 39. 13tJ Ibid .. 41. The aSSoclatlOn between Venus, the goddess of beautv and love wIth the coune- san IS very imporl.ant wht:n vit:wing tht: rechnt:a nuat: in sixlt:t:thh-\;t:nlUlY an. Giorgiunt: FeJ?l!s,(Fig. 1q) the goddess of1ove slumbers in a pastoral setting "rith hiHs in the bark- ground mnronng the contours of her body. Devoid of a figure of CupId.'" thIs sleepmg heaUTY IS any man' s dream of a beautiful nude \voman slumbering in The countryside, UI1- a~"iar..: i.)f l'iI:r surroundings or vi..:VYcrs. Sumptuous bc.ddotn..:s beneath her hint of a pvssi- falien into a peacefuJ slumheL An explanation of the iandscape setting in which Venus is redined, is a reaiiZallon that the Renaissam.oc man may have looked upon this image and Steil one thit1!:>. that as the land i~ for usc b)' man, SO is woman. teSrln A comnosition.l ,. which- followed- the llnveihnt;r,- -, - -.-.,.:..' offTionlione's- :--' - :\;Jeeni1w..t (..' flenu\' hv.' thirty vears, j limn s Venus reclmes mSlde an eLaborate boudOIr who appears io be awalt- ing a patron, a i ok which th\; v itWCl cuuiJ a::-'::-'UI1l\;. V\;[Ju:,' iilt\;n::-,c, :,\;uuclivc gaze, whidl This is a <;eemingly nefqrious quality ofVemJS and the Venetian ('o!.lrte<;an And jllst a<; in Glorglone's ,)'leeping Venus. Tman's Venus 0/ Urhino IS completely devoid ota CupId figure. Tht:re is no connection with the mythologicai character Venus. h seems as ifme " Ibid. 4j. u, Anderson, .I., C;iorgione: 111e Painter (~t 'Poetic Hrevi~v '. tlammanon, Pans. 1996, 223.A cameo de picting a reciining Venus with a Cupid suspended above, is a consummate example of the visu<~ inspira tinn npi'"t:iI'.1 tn r",vi\l~ thl' <:'1>1"";(''11 r",('linin3, Vf'I1I1" ~.nd h",r mi<:(,ilieV('It<: <:nn ! ~\/\nd~:'son~ annals of art history. A reclining Venus by Bernardino Lic!no is the epitome ofVenlls as courtesan. The canvas Illustrates a reclining beauty m a very pnvate boudoir. wearing nothing. Venus, who lies in a seductively erotic posture in the foreground of the compo- sition, forces the viewer to look upon the nude ..... oman, who appears to be \vaiting for to look upon the image an wish to he Venus' partner. Once again, there IS no figure of Cupid, yet the reclining nude continues to be given the nlli'11e of the Roman goddess of love and b~;auty. The: concept of the mistress or courtesan as a model in portraiture \vas \:ery com -." mon in ancient Rome and Greece Throughout antiquity, monumental c;tamec: and sculp- tures were erected In honor of particuiar courtesans. ThIS IS yet another reference to the l There v.'as Leaena, a courtesan \vho \\/as dear to Boc.cac.cio in his J:tlJriOUS J'f {)}J1CJJ, who defended her lover by mutilating herself She was tortured in attempts to retrieve in- formatIOn needed to sentence her lover to death. Leanena's unwIllmgness to betray her 1lOvt:r, rt:sUltt:Oi, .. III' nt:r1 l','mung on('~, ncr uwn tongue,< renoenng1 . ..nerselI 1'" unaOle.. i'. to speaK.1 1:;<:. rf:'i1 ne Athenians, desiring to honor Leaena's heroism, crectcd a bronze statue of a tongue less h- 'h .Flero, G., nUt Humanistic Tradition From Romamicism fO Realism in the Western World. William C. Brown Comm .. Dubuque. IA. 1992.85. Maners Uzvmpia. painted in ] 863. caused an uproar because it w,,<.: th .... ught to ha\lt~ rleha<.:ect a trilditional <:nhject Modeled after Titian'<.: l'P/1/I\ (~{nrhino little i<.: li"ft t(l the iau:.ginatioi1 as \ve receiv-c a languid gaze frern 01yrnpi:l" """he reclines betv,.'een ::-Uents ',,\'hile receiving t1vWel:) ftuitl d dUl;ng pattvll. The simiJal;tic:) dIc easily dderm;ncd betweeLl th", slAtcenth-":entwy V",jlllS and the ninett:enth-cemury Venus (do we dare caB Oiympia Venus'j. See also Rona GotTen' S flllan 's Ve nus ot Urbino, Cambridge U. Press, U.K, 1997,4. u, Boccaccio. Famolls. 205. -/7 on(:'~~ in the Propylaea on the Armpnlis L<6 Tht;:re was l'heodora, wlte oftheEmperor JustInmn. known to be a venal. mtelh- gent and beautiful proslitute,'{7 was iransfurmeu intu the nubk wilt: uf me empt::rur or the tale it! Ravenna, Italy. Theordora w!l1 forever wear the color of royalty. Phryne. the mlstress of Praxiteles. was ImmortalIzed in marble as the AphrodIte of Cnidus at her hath. !,~ Phryne as A phrodite is the personification of the Greek tradition of love. It "vas Praxitclcs who eame to be known as the greatest sculptor in ancient Grcccd 34 l~ecause , in part, of the \l/orl~ inspired by his Intstress. Lastly, the story of Alexander the Great and Campaspe is another instance from antiquity of mistress and powerful ruler. References of a painting of Campaspe commis- sioned by AleJl.andef, appears many times iill. Renaissance texts. The stur), of the painter "The magniturle---'-'--~ -- of- Ar nelles' -- 1"...-'---e-enills \Va<; significantlv-~- ..• - ---~.", rlemonstrated------.--- ~ hv-_'- his painting uf a beautifui woman, that is his nude portrait of Alexander's mistress, Campaspe. Sedng the beauty of the portrait, Alexander saw that the artist appreciated her (and loved her) more than he. And so Alexander 'paId' tor the portrait by presenting Campaspe to Apelles. "140 According to this ancient story, whomever could est depict a beautifui woman de- strvtu to have ht!. 'vV'o;; could say lhai i.his vitw is indin.. ;l:liy ldkdcd in Rcnais::;,alll:t ;-it. Ldwfier:o L/f~.~~ 83. " Kieiner, F, Iviamiya, C, Tansey, R., Gardner's An lhrough the Ages: the Western Perspective. i ilh edilion. Thomas Wadsworth, U.S.A., 2003, 26H. "" Ibid .. 84. "" Klt;iner. Miamiya. & T L.~t: canvas, Vt:runica' s disbelit:f and amazemt:nt is slalt:d in her letter to lhe artist they include painting, sculpturing, and working in relief and ba.<;ed on 1 do not know what, they declare that nowhere in the wodu is thelc to be founu anyone Y\Tho attains the excellence of Apd!es, Zeuxis, Phydhs, Pra:xite!es, and other noble and famous painters of those days .. J promise you that when I whether it was a nainting of a ghost that had anneared before me because of some .i. _' _ .. j wabulical trick. ,,].1' Veronica Franco's words iHustrate a depiction of a counesan in a visual context with no impliGations of idealization ofthe sitler. The relationship between FralKO and j-rower- . of-_. the---- naintedj- ... - image"-- -- -1.... ,.'- which.. _- .• ie:-,- Veronica- •. - •... Franco --- -- ae:--- here:elf- -.-- --.' coniured- ..,- exaltations._"- whtch harken to dassical antiqUIty. It exemplitles the importance of the painted tmage of thl: 1.:0urtesan in the :sixtl;':l;':uth l:entUlY. Within the pmirait of v\;wnica Franco by Tinlm- idecdi7(ltions of female beauty. The courtesan 1ll anC1ent art IS toll owed many centunes later 1ll the ambIguous te- male pomaits prevaleni in sixteemh-century Venetian art. Palma Vecchio's oeuvre of t'",ventj unnamed female portraits contain all the aforementioned dements of the Venetian courtesan. Portrait ola FVoman with a Bared Breast (Fig. 22) is a composition that carries all of the impiicarions denoting the siner as a courtesan. The rrianguiar composirion which places the sitter in the foreground of an faint architectural setting is siuiilar to rnost of Palma's 'It'()men. Thi~ blonde beautv., \~/hcse hair falls freely onto her sht)ulder~'-J clenches :1; Rosenthal. The Honest. 248. h(~f. 0~~(1::lnn~nt ~ while ~x:n()"im1~ I - W he:r-- h::lfe:-, - ~ hfe:::lst~ r - to- the:c viewe:f., The'T ladv ..' heholds" th(~ heholdef, wIth a provocatIve sIde glance, beckonmg a conversatIOn w1th the VIewer. perhaps WIth a sharp-with:u yuole. She possesse!j inteiligenl:e in her eyes, offeIing herself to whomever uttered fr01l11 her !ips. She is the epitome of ideal beauty in the poetic tradition of the courtesan who frequented Venice. Paima's Woman Wilh a Bared Rrea.w is similar to the composiTion of i_a f'(w- viewer. La I;'()rnarina is a hlatant display of a wilhng courtesan or mistress posing for the viewer with a coy smirk upon her delicate iips. Paima's iady possesses a more serious expression which doesn't Hcccssdrily employ a look of sincere pwvocatton, but nWfe of a sixteenth-century painters did not achieve from their sifters~ he they courtesans, or a beauty from the painter's Imaginatlon. Tll\;: inlt:nsity and intdh:d apparl;;nt ill Palma's r-Vumun with u Bun:d Breu.'il is this composition has bt;en thought to be a work of Titian in recent ye::trsH.< The \,voman m black holds an mtense gaze whIch possesses an mteliectualJty akm to the gaze: trom Paima's Wuman with Bared Breast. Her observant gaze is directed ai her audience, \vith a glmv of humanity in her eyes vvhi1e she vvat.:;hcs her vicvvers with as much fervor as :.;hc is reC'e~'ving from her audience. Surveying her dress, posture and unadorned beauty, it is clear that she is likely a courtesan by profession. Her carnicia drapes off her shoulders: :,' Ryiands, Paima ~ 'ec£:hlO. .; i 1. Ryiands makes this assessment on a dose examination of the handling oftte paint The free treatment ofthe lights in the complex folds ofthe black sleeve mdicate IS an mdlca tor that this was not the handiwork of Palma Vecchio. but Titian. her back. A final work ofPairna's to examine is a peculiar painting enliiieu Furlmil u/a the title, to be an image ()f a courteSfl.n. A vision of an elaborately dressed womm with both of her breasts bared flts tht~ prototype for the traditIOnal courtesan portraIt. But the depiction of this woman is divergent ii'om Paima's other paimings. Her ethereai, glassy Zlppearane.;:: lends a generic identity to the sitter. The c.xeeutioii of thc \.vomaii, partieu- hlr~y !n the race, is rnodcrn in COmp3.f!SOn to \'.that v·/a~: prc)duced in ~!~:!cep.th-ccntury \!~- netian painting. She does not possess any signs of outvvard interest in the viewer as in Palma's f'~~(lman wah a Bared BreaSf and ~V(lman m Black, where both interact imimaleiy th~ <;itter on the canvas from his imagination Could this he how Palma hclievcd a hC<1uti- tul courtesan wouid appear? LIving In Vemce tor most of hlS adult life';;, he wouid have The: coul1esan In sixteenth-century a1t encompasses a complicated and tascmanog character who iived her iife apart from the confines of tradirl0nai patriarchy and misogy- nist thought The "v"'iI"orl(f of the ",,;isual arts indulged the c·ouITcsan bcgiiining in antl(iuity. The ambiguity of who the courtesan was, ft,!!o\ved b:,' her overt se~ual!ty and independ- ence. is a tI-esh suqlect matter that will always be desirable and sexy. There lives an lil- '" Mandel, c..Uacapo) [Giacomo} Palma ii Vecchio", The tirol'e DIClIOnm}' o/'An OnlINe. Oxford Uni versity Press, Accessed March 30, 2004, http://Vl-'Ww,t1,fOveart.col11.Palma'sdatesarec,1479-1528.By 1520 he was living and working in Venice where he spent the rest of his life . .: I .;1 triguing per<;on behind the paint and canvas, \'lith a "tory to tell that is her mvn In the case of Palma Vecchio's female portraIts Violante. Woman with a Hared Breast, rVuman in Black, and La Curilgiana, the mystery confined to the ladit:s \\'ho gazt: ir01TI the can"):as, never ceases to intrigue the vi.C\r\'Cf. Similar (}ucstlons vl.'jll continue 10 occupy future spectators: who was the courtesan of the sixteenth centlLry? Hoyv did she come to practice the singular profeSSIOn which enabled women of the ltahan Renaissance to acquire freedom not ailotted the fairer sex until the nventieth century? CHAPTER !V - CONCLUSION T1I(; femuk portlaLlure, a singular object that evolved froiH what was once an iHus- trrrtec document of a '.voman's soc.ia] stattlS and obligation to her famil)! !nto a dechlf3tion nfherseJf or a typt~ nffemalc heauty has heen thoroughly discllssed in this papt~r The early notIOns of the female portrmt had nothmg do v-11th her sensual character or her deSlf- able natwe. This eiement of female natwe was ovcll1y conceaied behind a veil to be wit- Yet there are images, such as Palma's twenty female portraits, that served as types of Idea! feminine beauty. They are said to be able to "lnVlte a sensuous response through tht:: use of ciothes and jewels and through the direction of Ihe gaze. This at times softness and luminosity of skin and hair, the richness of color and of ditTerent textures.',i45 Different portrait types were adapted for specific patrons, as il1ustrated in Palma's series of twenty such paintings. Conn(~c{ions made berween [he rising popuiation of single men and ,vomen of sixteenth-ccntUlY Venice are said to have been due in part to the erotic \1a- the traditional- female. renresentation- l' - ~. as seen in the .l'nainter's .. work- of the fifteenth-cenhH"v_' profile portrait. What was lhe uHimak fundi on uflht fernaie portraits pfuduceJ by Palma V..::,c- : h HerI!hy~ D." '~Polpu!azione e strutture social: da! X\' a! X\'I secclc'~~ Tf::fano:: !,relh.:~=f~l, Convegtlc ln~ tt:illaLtOildie..:l; Siud~, \\;nezia, 197G, \~ efl P0ZZa. EJ~tOl e:- \/~Lenza, ] 980~ 71-·;t CViHlet:i:tOH3 HlaJe Vei"'~H the rising population of singie men as weil as single women sixteenth-century Venice are said to have been due, In part, to the erotic nature of female representation in Venetian female portraiture. '40 Ibid. 73 ('hio during the sixteenth-century,) According to r,wla Tinagli, the central theme in Ttali:;m Renaissance pamting was specltic to the female tom1. WeB-born men and women were nt;;ct:ssarily beautiful, and the need lo givt: visual form to tht;; iypt;; of femah: beauly dt:- and the redefined artistic techniques developed to convey the qualities of female beauty. 117 ThIS IS true. though the answer to thIS question IS more complex than expected. involvmg saJacious societal mores In a cuiture that birthed a kind of sexual economy. The sexual economy "vas fuded by tvYO moth'ating fae-tors: painting and poetry. Poetic lisccnsc fu- Bordone. Poets. in tum. such as Am1olo Firenzuola. Federimw LuiQini. and GianQloH!io , , .... ' ~ - ,",' ...... "-" Trissino, created an ideal of beauty that embodied a desirable woman. She was then iden- tificd as tht:: wornan who pra(;tiGed the prot~ssion (/1' (;OuileSan, making her an a(;(;es:-.ible tool fix fantastical fulfillment. The-- in.;;tilulion.- .. ------of the~- courle.;;atl.. ------, educatim!-~, women- - - in- the- _. c1as.;;ics. - .. -,' j-ooetrv- ..' -' and hit:>h- -",.;. - societal manners, eXisted m a torm not seen since antiquity. ClaSSIcal references appeared in many furms in sixtet;:ntlH.;\::ntury paintings in Veni\;\::, particularly those duuing tu CCI- eral, and beautiful woman whom every wealthy man wished access of Whl.le many men who frequented the charms of the cowtesan also possessed wIves .. the expcctatlOlls The nobile: wives dwdled in a world of domesticity and chiid bearing. OnE: must ..vonder if the noble women's thoughts indeed paralleled ..vhat the poets were writing and the painters were painting. How did the \vives of the !l!en \"iho were the main supporters of this so-called sexual economy view their place in society'] Gaspara Stampa dearly expressed the answer to this question in one of her poems. Her writing cails for arti«ts to convf'y thp interior ijfe nfthp nohle woman, a« well 'IS thf' dash nffeel- mgs whIch contronted her evervdav. Stampa Imparts the dIstress telt bv the noble women UI Vc:ni'.;t: in knuwing that olht:r womt:n lovt:u lht:ir husbands: ~'You artists., \/''vho arc able to rencet in marble .. br{)n_zc~ and cl)lour$~ or in ~vax"? a lifeiike tllflTI precisely like the true one, even surpassing that which nature made, ~ume ali log~lht:I in a glal::ious glOUp to simp!.:: iiI(; failt;st I.::II.:::aim\: th~ FilSl Cal\: ever produced, since in creation's time ~v!th His own hands, he fonned A·hlm a.nd Eve. Portray my count, and keep it weliin mind to show the inward man as well his double heart - as you well see he has just such a one: his OV\'l1 and mine, gi \'1';11 10 him by Lu\'t,:. Then paim from the other side, just as you see me, as i truly am, aiive without a moves without its rigging, lacking a rudder, lacking main - or foremasL gazing fi)I~:Vt:1 (HI the ble:--l NtH til Stal that guiJe:-- the ship Wllt:lc\:cr it may ~1I. And theH observe that on the left-hand side my countenance is always sad and woeful, but on llhe right isjoyiui and triumphant. My happy side has only this one meaning: "hoi 1 run C<+n,..,,..1;n ...... r-IAC'.~ J,,\-c""'l" rJt:'lIo '1~"",r J n.rA· +h·-::lo. ,r;:nA f";;\.r,r tl"f'lt ~nf'\thor n,r,""t,nlf')n Jlnl,-IS \.1. "'• ..L 1l.A.1U •.:H,\.4-1.s..UIJ. -6 ""h.).:J ...... f"".J U,-, til) .l....>Vl~.., \.J.1"" ... )"\• .\.\.4- 1.""".1.., \..LLU\. '-411Vt..ll...... l '4",.Vl.t. "-&.1 .I. Vlu- him."'"" Neither the presence nor the influences of a sexual economy wen::- have been a se- cree even t.o the chaste WIves .of VenIce. PaIntIngs such as Palma's tCmale portrruts woutd han: hung in ihe homes uf the wealthy men, perhaps in bed chambers, as cdebra- What was Palma Vecchio's ultimate intent within his unidentified female por- traits~; A possibie answer appears in a discussion concerning Titian' s intent for his name- less beauties. Kno\ving that Titian "vas a cvntcmpoiary of Palma, Olle may assume that the t\\'O painters \vould have conversed about the enigm3tic su~ject of ideal felTIlnine j!X Stt!-rnpa .. G... Se/c{,tc:.i !)ocn:,~:. ed. and trans, L.4\. Stcrtarit and !\1. P!'e!~tice Lillie .. It3.1ica Pres.s .. ~Je\\' YlJik~ t 994 .. 1) 48-51. Lu tht: Las~ of Stdll1pa hcasc1f~ ~h~ ~01l1pO~eJ the pot-ni tv ("ctelnaic bt! ~tfv~ ft..H Count CoHahino di Coiialto. See Iinagii, P. I'Vomen 111 imhan Renmssam;e An: Cender Repre5emmIOn identity. Manchester University Press, Manchester, 1997, 188. ;,,' Tinagli. 1-Vomen. 188. Goffen claim" that Titian identified ..:ome of hi" n(lintinv..: nfwol11t:'n H" ntlP<;ir> or ~ ,- - ,-' /- lavole. He mtended to evoke literature and ant]qUltv m hIS iemale portrmture, not por- nography, sudl ~ modern hislorians have c1airrled. Evidt:nt.:t: of this lies in lhe rat.:llnai is a viable claim that Palma also evoked literatl!fi.: in his paintings, enabling his women tl) become comprehenslble creatures in relation to sixteenth-century Vemce. The external motivarors for his paintings are dear when one examines the poetry and rhe Institution of the em.irtes,an. Therein lay an accurate cxplanati0ii of the paintings produe~d aild the n10- Not surprisingly. the issue oftbe male gaze prevaiis in this genre of painting. Since \'v'C vciwed Leonardo's tJmevra de' Bencr, which pcrmitted the sitter in the portrait The cultural pillar that 1raveled from thc sixteenth into the hven/y-fir<:1 century 1<: best descnlJed bv a postmodern art critIC. "T \} bt: bUill a \vurnan i::-; tu Of,;; bUlIi within an aliutteu anu cuufincu ~jJacc intu til;;; kee:ping of men. The socia! presence of women has developed as a result of their ingenuity in iiving under such tutelage \vithin such a iimited space. But this has continually watch herself She is almost continually accompanied hy her mvn imag\;o 'vVhibi ::,ltt;: i::. waih.ing a(;W::';' a rUOin, 01 whibl ::ill\,; i::. w(;l:ping <:II llll..: ut,;aih of her father, she can scarcely avoid envisaging herselfwa!k!ng or weeping. From earliest \:hiidhood she has been taught to survey herself continually:':'; Wh:>lt CRn be tRken fmm the n._RlntinQ5 (ifP~lma Vecchio" It i5 dear th3t knOu"ledQ.e ~ ~ ,." Goffen. Titian's i-Vomell Yale University Press. New Haven, i 997. 9. Partidge. L. "Titina's Women Ronk Rpvip",;"' 1("lJni~,nnr'e {//lfJrlprl1i vnl <;7 nn 7 ("nmmpr 1 yQ(),) ':;71_77 GnfTpn'" honk i" >l vprv , <. - •• ~ -- .-.,., -- ~'?"- --- , . > ',/, ------•• • " j !~;cd~rn irj!Crprel~~icn \.vhich cr~a!lenbe:; th~ un!ver~a! :lS:>U!~~;ptiCl~ by crit~C$ tb;.!t his pcrtra:ts. Gf~\"crnen \'''-~·f~· Ih)t1!;fl!:) InOlt: thdH hi~h cIa:'>:> pOfflOgfdphy. G(..t:fft;fi illgUe::., thilt T~t~dl! Vid:> syrnpatheti\" ltJ "'vVH1~j! iHiU represented them as empowered, seli:.... possessed, fujiy in command of their bodies and emotions, and oIren even assertive toward the males with whom they i!1teracted, ll1cluding viewers. '" Berger. L Wavs of Seeing Penguin Group. London. 1972,46. ..~"Jlj an underst.andmg ot hlS twenty female portralts. It i:j acccputbic lo cnu this paper with a poem by Petrarch. Within the verses, Pctrarch expresses his desperate desire to declare his love lor Laura in the most affable manner he can. HIS dIlemma lies 111 the fact that he teels there are no accurate methods to clearly express his Jove for the tair lady "A~ham~d someti!11eS, my lady, that I ~ti!1 cannm express your beauty in my rhyme, I \'v[lndcr to that s~"vcct and distant tilTIC \vhen you alone gamed power of my Will. But c:v~n th~rc- i finJ 110 guiJillg ~k;::, no strength to scale R "'eight T cannot c1im(!, for such a task demands a force sui1lirne, How otten do 1 move my hps to speak. lli\! and find m~'J vviGc lits buritd ill J brcdst - hut then, wh8t <;:(JI.Jnd could ~Vf"r rj"e w) hieh'J How often do i seek to find the words are vanquished WIth each try .'''C fn ils purest form, conceivably, Renaissance men feh this way about [he iueai fcnl1ninc beaUty they .yere so desperate to encounter and possess. The development of last possess the heauty they so adamantly desired Thus t()lIowed the phenomenon which took piace in the worid of femaie portraiTUre. i" Petrarch, F, ].(jr Love of Laura: /-JoetfJi o{J-'etrarch. Translation by Marion Shore, The Unlversitv of Arkansas Press Favetteville. i987 23 Figure I. Palma Vecchio. Portrait ofa Woman Called 'la Bella'. 1518-20. Oil on canvas, 90 x 80 em. Lugano - Castagnola Collection Thyssen Bomenisza. Photograph from Philip Ryland's book Palma Vecchio. p. 99. 58 Figure 2. Palma Vecchio. Portrait o/a Woman in Profile, c. 1520-25. Oil on panel, 49 x 42.4 cm. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. Image courtesy of Philip Ryland's book Palma Vecchio. p. 99. 59 Figure 3. Domenico Ghirlandaio. Portrait ofGiovanna degli Albizzi Tornabuoni, c. 1488- 90. Tempera on panel, 77 x 49 cm. Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid. Photograph from Virtue and Beauty. Leonardo 's Ginevra de Benci and Renaissance Portraits of Women. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., p. 191. 60 Figure 4. Leonardo da Vinci. Portrait ofGinevra de Bend, 1474-78. Oil on panel, 38.1 x 37 em. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Photograph from Virtue and Beauty. Leonardo's Ginevra de Bend and Renaissance Portraits of Women. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., p. 143. 61 Figure 5. Leonardo da Vinci. Portrait ofCecilia Gallerani (Lady with Ermine), 1489-90. Oil on panel. Krakow, Princes Czartoryski Foundation. Photograph from Lynn Lawner's book Lives of the Courtesans, p. 117. 62 Figure 6. Titian. Portrait ofa Woman Called La Bella, 1536. Oil on canvas. Galleria Pitti, Florence. Photograph from Rona Goffen's book Titan 's Wom en, p. 78. 63 Figure 7. Palma Vecchio. Portrait a/a Woman Called Violante, 1516-18. Oil on canvas, 64.5 x 50.8 cm. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. Photograph from Philip Ryland 's book Palma Vecchio, p. 99. 64 Figure 8. Palma Vecchio. Portrait a/a Woman in Blue, 1512-14. Oi l on canvas, 63.5 x 51 cm. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. Photograph from Philip Ryland's book Palma Vecchio, p. 98. 65 Figure 9. Tullio Lombardo. Portrait Bust ofa Woman, 1520. Marble. Private Collection. Photograph from Alison Luchs' book Tullio Lombardo's Ideal portrait Sculpture in Renaissance Venice, 1490-1530, p. 279. 66 Figure 10. Bronzino. Portrait ofLaura Battiferri, 1558. Oil on panel, 83 x 60 cm. Palazzo Vecchio, Florence. Photograph from Marice Brock's Bronzino, p. 95. 67 t' .1 Figure II. Raphael. Detail from Galatea, c. 1518. Fresco, Villa Farnesina, Rome. Photograph from Lynn Lawner's Lives a/the Courtesans, p. 38. 68 Figure 12 Palma Vecchio. Portrait ofa Woman Called Flora, 1522-24. Oil on panel, 77 x 64 cm. National Gallery, London. Photograph from Philip Ryland's book Palma Vecchio,p. 208. 69 Figure 13. Titian. Portraitofa Woman Called Flora, c. 1516-18. Oil on canvas. Gallerie degli lJffizi, Florence. Photograph from Rona Goffen's book entitled Titian's Women, p. 73. 70 Figure 14. Paris Bordon. Portrait ofa Woman Called Flora, 16th century. Oil on canvas, 103 x 85 cm. Musee du Louvre, Paris Photograph from Paris Bardon, Electa, Milan, 1984, p. 80. 71 Figure 15. Veronese. Leda and the Swan. 16th century. Oil on canvas? Photograph from Lynn Lawner's book Lives a/the Co urtesans, p. 107. 72 Figure 16. Marcantonio Raimondi. Leda and the Swan, 1520. Engraving, Photograph from Lynn Lawner's book Lives ofthe Courtesans, p. 106. 73 Figure 17. Titian. Danae and the Golden Shower, c. 1545. Oil on canvas, Prado Museum, Madrid Photograph from Rona Goffen's book Titian's Women, p. 220. 74 Figure 18. Giulio di Antonio Bonasone. Danae. 1545. Engraving. Photograph from Lynn Lawner's book Lives a/the Courtesans. p. 110. 75 Figure 19. Giorgione. Sleeping Venus (Dresden Venus), 1510. Oil on panel, StaatIiche Gemaldegalerie, Dresden. Photograph from Jaynie Anderson's book Giorgione, p.219. 76 Figure 20. Titian. Venus of Urbina, 1538. Oil on panel, Gallery degli Uffizi, Florence. Photograph from Rona Goffen' s Titian's Women, p. 147. 77 Figure 21. Bernardino Licinio. Reclining Venus, 16th century. Temporarily at Palazzo Vecchio. Photography from Lynn Lawner's book Lives of the Courtesans, p. 135. 78 Fil;ure 22. Tintoretto. Portrait of Veronica Franco, c. 1575. Oil on canvas, Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, Massachusetts. Photograph from Margaret Rosenthal's book The Honest Courtesan. 79 Figure 22. Palma Vecchio. Portrait ofa Woman With a Bared Breast, 1524-26. Oil on panel, 79.1 x 62.2 cm. Gemaldegalerie, Berlin (Dahlem). Photograph from Philip Ryland's book Palma Vecchio, p. 222. 80 Figure 23. Raphael. La Fornarina, c. 1515. Oil on canvas, 34" x 25.5". Palazzo Barbarini, Rome. Photograph from Lynn Lawner's book Lives a/the Courtesans, p 2. 81 Figure 24. Palma Veeehio(Titian). Portrait ofa Woman in Black, 1510. Oil on panel, 59.5 x 44.5 em. Kunsthistorisehes Museum, Vienna. Photograph from Philip Ryland's book Palma Vecchio, p. 311. 82 Figure 25. Palma Vecchio. Portrait o/a Woman Called 'La Cortigiana', 1524-26. Oil on canvas, 87.4 x 73.5 cm. Museo Poldi-Pezzoli, Madrid Photograph from Philip Ryland's book Palma Vecchio, p. 221. 83 REFERENCES Adams, Lauric Schneider, "Iconographic Aspects of the Gaze in Some Paintings by Titan", The Cambridge Companion to Titian. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004. Alberti, Leon Battista, On Painting and On Sculpture: The Latm Texts olUc P/{:{ura and De Statua. Edited and Translation by Cecil Grayson, London: Phaidon, 1972. Anderson, Jaynie, "Giorgione, Titian and the Sleeping Venus", Ti;;iano e Vencia: C'un vegno Inlerna;;ionale di Studio Venice: Neri Pozza Editore, 1976. Berger, Henry, "Fictions of the Pose: Facing the Gaze of Early Modern Portraiture", Representations. 46, 1994. manchard, lUI.., Prose and Poetry (?flhe Continental Renaissance in Tram·;/ation. Ne\\-' York: Longman's, Green, & Co., 1949. Brock, Maurice, Hro;eino. Flarnmarion,2002. Burkhardt, Jacob, l'l1e Civili::afion (~flhe Renaissance in Ita~v. London: Middlemore, 1960. Brown, Patricia Fortini, Art and Ufe in Renaissance l/en;ce. New York: Harry N. Abrams Publishing, ] 997. Campbell, Lome, Renaissance Portraits: European Portrait-Painting in the J4th, 15th, and 161h Centuries. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990. Capella, G.F., Della f'ccellen:::a ct Di)!.llita della Donne. Venice, 1527. Castiglione, Baldesar, The Book (?ffhc Courtier. New York: Daniel Javitich, ed., W.W. Norton & Company, 2002. Chojnacki, Stanley, Womcn and 1I4cn III RCIl{llssancc llel1lCc: lw'clvc J:'ssays on PatriCian ,SOCiety. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University, 2000. 8-1 Cory at, Thomas, COJyat's Crudities. Scolar Press, J 978 Cranston, Jodi, 7'lle Poelics (dPortraiture on the Italian Renaissance. Cambridge: Cam bridge University Press, 2000. Cropper, Elizabeth, "The Beauty of Woman: Probiems in the Rhetoric of Renaissance Portraiture ", Rewriting the Renaissam:e;f)iscourses (?lSexual f)ifferences in Early Modern Europe. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986. Cropper, Elizabeth, "On Beautiful Women Parmagianino, Petrachisma and the Vernacular Style", Art Bulletin, 1976. da Vinci, Leonardo, I-eonardo on Painting, an Anthology of Writings by lJeonardo da Vinci Wah a SelectIOn o/Documents He/allllg 1o Ifis ('areer as an Arllsl. Martin Kemp, ed., New Haven: Yale University Press, 19R9. Fehl, Philipp P., Decorum and Wit: The Poel'~v q/Venelian Painting. Vienna: IRSA, 1992. Fermor, Sharon, "Poetry in Motion: Beauty in Movement and the Renaissance", Concepts ofBeau(v in Renaissance Art. Ashgate, 1998. Fiero, Gloria, the Humanis! Tradition From Romanticism in the H"estern World Du buque, fA: William C. Bro\\-TI Communications, 1992. Firenzuola, Agnolo, On the Beauty (?/rVomen. Translated and edited by Konrad Eisen bichler & Jacqueline Murray, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1992. Franco, Veronica, Poems and Selected I,etters .. Ann Rosalind Jone & Margaret F. Rosen thal, editors and translators, Chicago: University of Chicago, 1998. Freedman, Luba, Titwn's Portrmts 77mmgh Arelino's Lens. University Park, PA: Penn sylvania State Press, 1995. Gambara, Veronica, nlC Dejiantll//use: ilalian Feminist Puc/sporn Ihe Aliddle Ages to the Present. New York: Allen, Kittel, & Jewell, eds., 1986. Garrard, Mary D., "Leonardo da Vinci: Female Portraits, Female Nature", nle l~~'(panding Discourse: Feminism & Art History. N. Broude & M.D. Garrard, ed., New York: leon Editions, 1992. 85 Goffen, Rona, Titian's Women. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997. Goodman-Soellner, E.: "Poetic Interpretations of the Lady at Her Toilette", 5.,'ixteenth C'enluryJournal,14, 1983. Hartt, F., Hi,)'lOry (?f Italian R})zaissance Art: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture. New York: Prentice Hall & Abrams, 1994. Held, 1.S., "Flora, Goddess and Courtesan", ESSll}W in Honor olErti'in Panoj,\'kv. Millard Meiss, ed., vol. I, New York: New York University Press, 1961. Hennessey, John Pope, The Portrait in the Renaissance, The A. VV. lvfellon Lecture in the fine Arts. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 1963. Hirst, M., Sehastiano del Piomho. Oxford: Claredon Press, 1981. Hope, Charles, "Problems of Interpretation in Titian's Erotic Paintings", Ti::iano e Vene::ia; Convegno Interna::ionale di S'tudi. Venice: Neri Pozza Editore, 1976. Humphrey, Peter, Painting in Renaissance Venice. New Haven Ya1e University Press" 1995. Kahr, Madlyn Milner, "Danae: Virtuous, Voluptuous, Venal Woman", Art Bulletin, 60, 1978. Kelso, Ruth, Doclrine./iw the L{](~v qlthe Renaissance. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1978. King, Margaret L., Women (~lthe Renaissance. Chicago: University of Chicago Press" 1991. Kleiner, R, Mamiya, c., Tansey, R., Gardner's Art 711rough the Ages, the Western Per spective, 11th edition. U.S.A.: Thomas Wadsworth, 2003. Labalme, Patricia H., "Women's Roles in Early Modern Venice: An Exceptional Case", Beyund 111eir Sex: Learned Women (~lthe European Past. Patricia H. Labalme, ed., New York: New York University Press, 1980. Land, Norman E., The Viewer As Poel: the Renaissance Response 10 Art. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1994. 86 Lawner, Lynne, Lives (~flhe Courtesans: Portraits (iflhe Renaissance. New York, 1987. Lomazzo, G.P., Scrifti sulll'arte, ed R.P. Florence: Ciardi, Marchi & Bertolli, 1973. McClure, Laura K., Courtesan'i' At TaMe: Gender and Greek Literary CullUre in Athe naeus, New York: Routledge, 2003. Mandel, c., "(Jacopo) [Giancomo] Palma (il) Vecchio", The Grove Dictionary (~fArt Online, Oxford University Press, Accessed March 30, 2004., Meilencamp, F.H.., "A Note on the Costume of Titian's Flora", Art Bulletin. c. 51, June 1969. Morford, Mark P,O, & Lenardon, Robert J., C'lassical,\,lytholog;y, 3rd F:dition. White Plains, NY: Longman, 1985. Norwich, John Julius, A History of Venice. New York: Vintage Books, 1989. Petrarch, Francesco, For I.ove ofIaura: Poetry ofPetrarch. Marion Shore, translator, Fayetteville, AK: University of Arkansas Press, 1987. PhiJostratus the Younger,lmagines (L.c.L..), trans. Arthur Fairbanks, 1947. Pignatti, Terisio, The Golden Century o.lVenetian Painting. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1979. Pliny the Elder, Natural History. English Translation by H. Rackham, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1949. Pona, F.,La Lucerna. Salerno, Roma, 1973. Price, Paola Malpezzi, Afoderata Fonte; Women and L{/e In Si.xfeenth-Century ·Venice. Madison Teaneck, London, 2003. Richter, Jean Paul, ed., The liferary Works t!lLeonardu da ft'inci. Phaidon, London, 1970. Rogers, Mary, "Fashioning Identities For the Renaissance Courtesan", F'ashionmg Idenll ties in Renaissance Art. Mary Rogers, ed., Ashgate, 2000. Rogers, Mary, "Reading the Female Body in Venetian Renaissance Art", New 87 Interpretations ajVenetian Renaissance Painting. E. Sussex: Caldra House, 1994. Rogers, Mary, "Sonnets on Female Portraits From Renaissance North Italy", Word & Image. 2, no. 4, October-December, 1986. Rogers, Mary, "The Deconun of Women's Beauty: Trissino, Firenzuola, Luigini and the Representation of Women in Sixteenth-Century Painting", Renaissance Studies, 2, no. 1, Rosand, David, Painting in Sixteenth-Century Venice; Titian, Veronese, Tintoretto. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997. Rosenthal, Margaret F., The Honest Courtesan, Veronica Franco, Citi=en and Writer in Sixteenlh-Cenlur.}' Venh:e. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992. Rylands, Philip, Palma V·ecchio. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992. Santore, C, "Danae: The Renaissance Courtesan's Alter Ego:' Zeitschr~fifur Kunslgeschichl e, 54, 199]. Simons, Patricia, "Women in Frames: The Gaze, the Eye, the Protile in Renaissance Por traiture", The f~~'(panding Discourse: Feminism and Art History. N. Broude & M.D. Garrard, 00., New York: Icon Editions, 1992. Sperling, lutta Gisela, Convents and the Bo(~V Politic in Late Renaissance Jlenice. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999. Tinagli, Paola, Women in Italian Renaissance Art; Gender, Representation, Identity. New York: Manchester University Press, 1997. Vaccaro, Mary, "Beauty and Identity in Parmigianino's Portraits", Fashioning Identities in Renaissance Art. Ashgate, 2000. Vasari, Giorgio, Ie Opere df Giorgio Vasari Icon nuove annota:.:ione e commenl; df Gaetano Milanesz/. Firenze: G.c. Sansoni. Vasari, Giorgio, The Lives (?(the Artists, a new trans/alion by Julia Conmf,'ay Bondanella & Peter Bondanella, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. Virtue and Beau~v: Leonardo '. .,. Ginevra de 'Benet and Renaissance Portraits (~t Women. David Alan Brown, ed., Wahsington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.c., 2001. 88 Whitfield, JJL, Pefrarch and the Renaissance. New York: Russell & Russell, 1965. 89 CURRICULUM VITAE NAME: Sarah Elizabeth F ruehling ADDRESS: 263 Pennsvlvania., Ave. Louisville, K Y 40206 DOB: August 16, 1977, Bucyrus, Ohio EDUCATION: B.A., Art & Family Consumer Sciences Iv10unt Vernon Nazarene College, Iv10unt Vernon, OB 1995-2000 90